Eighteen Years a Prodigy
by AUS Wild Thing
Summary: Instead of going to high school Gohan has been given a job at the famous Capsule Corporation. And now he must take the students of Orange Star High under his wing, finding a way to manage them for an entire month. OOC Gohan, instead of being a nerd he is suave, confident and much smarter than the anime truly shows. GhVi
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Monday morning – 8:45 am: the bane of any students existence, the oh so relaxing weekend has come to a close and what lies ahead is five days of pure boredom, written words that hold no meaning and challenging arithmetic which has no purpose outside the confines of the classrooms four walls. The sound of footsteps scraping across the hallways, lockers being unlocked and closed, students conversing with one another, and gossiping in hushed whispers. Without a doubt this meaningless cycle would be pointless without the final exams which would determine the future of all its participants.

' _Yep, that's school in a nutshell'_ a raven haired girl thought to herself.

Said girl eyed all her students critically watching how they interacted with one another, whether it is with open arms in true mateship, or what seemed to be harboured resentment, and listening to the drivel that more popular groups would talk about to pass the time. All the while she made mental notes about what she was able to witness and overhear, as was the true behaviour of an aspiring senior detective. Without this hobby of hers, the girl would likely go insane from boredom and she doubted even her two friends would be capable of keeping her grounded.

As if on cue, or perhaps just an extremely coincidental moment of chance, the aforementioned 'friends' decided to make themselves known, approaching their raven haired comrade as she completed the menial task of retrieving the required text books for the next two hours.

"Videl!" the blonde girl called out to her.

The voice was recognisable to Videl from kilometres away, the high pitched squeak and bubbly tone was always present when the blonde was in a state of happiness. Turning to the girl in question, Videl gave her a smile and nod in recognition.

"Hey Erasa, how was your weekend?" Videl asked while giving her friend a once over. Sure enough the girl was wearing her usual style. A lot of skin and very little covering, almost too much for Videl's liking. Erasa was dressed in a green tube top with vertical black lines that left very little to imagination. Coupled with the shirt was a pair of stylish three quarter jeans.

"You don't want to hear about it" Erasa responded.

Videl just breathed a sigh of relief, she knew full well that Erasa had a date with some guy from the schools track team, and when things like that happened she had a tendency to give every little detail about her date, taking up nearly a full hour to finish her stories.

Before Videl was able to respond, she felt a long muscular arm snake over the length of her shoulders, instantly her demeanour changed to one of frustration, knowing full well who the culprit was.

"Hey ba-" the person said only to be cut off by a sharp elbow being driven into their midsection. After removing the arm from Videl, the victim allowed an audible gasp escape their lips from the pain they were being subjected to.

"Don't ever try that again! Got it Sharpener?" Videl roared at the blond jock who was now trying to ease his pain.

"Point taken" he managed to gasp out. Although he had said it, both he and Videl knew it was a hollow acceptance to the girls warning.

"Whatever" Videl sighed in frustration at her so called 'friends' attempt of seduction. "Let's just get to class"

9:00 am – Homeroom: The resounding noise of the school bell signalled the official start of the school week. Many students groaned and held their hands to their ears as the infernal noise reminded them of their surroundings for the next five days.

After the ear piercing noise ceased the teacher of these pupils entered the room holding a large pile of books and papers under one arm, and what looked to be a bucket of shredded paper in the other. This odd object seemed to capture the attention of a few students; unsurprisingly the one who seemed most intrigued was Videl Satan. There were a few whispers exchanged through the classroom as to what the contents of the bucket were.

"Good morning class" greeted the teacher, his voice clearly fatigued due to decades of teaching. The teacher was older man in his mid-fifties clearly indicated by the grey hairs that littered his head; he had a moustache above his upper lip and the thickest set of glasses that were on the market. There were a few broken mumbles from the students acknowledging their teachers presence. Placing the contents of his hands on his desk, the teacher turned back to his pupils.

"Now before we begin today's lesson, I have some very exciting news for you all"

That definitely got the attention of the whole student body. Anything that added a twist to the dull life of school was most welcome to all students in an effort to liven up their lives.

"I have just been in contact with the principal and he has provided me with some interesting news. It would seem that you have been chosen to participate in a new program the school will be conducting"

The teacher then paused gauging his student's reactions and was pleased to see them almost bending all the way over their desks in anticipation.

"You have been asked to participate in this year's apprentice program"

Now there was a loud outbreak in chatter, mainly consisting of the students asking one another what this 'apprentice program' was all about.

"Please settle" The teacher pleaded.

Once his class had settled, the teacher proceeded with his explanation.

"As I was saying, this apprentice program is unlike anything we have ever done at Orange Star High. What it entails is that you will be split into groups of three or four and sent to work as apprentices for some of the country's biggest companies and headquarters for four weeks"

That definitely threw the teenagers for a loop; the idea of working wasn't really the ideal solution for curing boredom. However the opportunity to witness the inner workings of some big businesses and be a part of its function was certainly a daunting but also exciting change of pace.

"What exactly will we be doing sir?" asked the always inquisitive Videl.

"Well Miss Satan, that is dependent on whatever location you are assigned to, you may be working behind a desk as a telemarketer or doing practical work at the Satan Zoo"

Resting back into her seat, Videl began to wonder what kind of potential job she could be involved in for the next month. As it seemed did many others, some seeming to have to imaginations going a little bit far. One student seemed to think he would be sent on a trip to space, while another girl was convinced she would be a model for one of the world's top modelling agencies.

"Right, before we go any further I ask you all to split yourselves into groups. You are only allowed a maximum of four people and a minimum of three so we can fill all the positions. I'll give you a moment to do so"

After the teacher was finished explaining, students began looking all over for their closest friends in order to be paired up. Videl merely had to give Erasa and Sharpener a quick glance and could already see them nodding their heads in agreement; they already had their group together. Although it did take longer than was necessary, the students were finally paired up in the right numbers, with a few adjustments being made by the teacher.

"Ok, now that everyone is in a group it's time to find out where you pupils will be working" the teacher announced as he grabbed the mysterious bucket from his desk.

"In order to keep it fair, I will call each groups name and will draw a piece of paper from this bucket; on that paper it will say the destination and the position of the person who will be your mentor. Everyone understand?"

After getting a collective sea of nods from his students the teacher began calling names from his roll and pull paper from the bucket.

"Ray, Jason, Sera. You will be managed by…" The teacher said as he dug around the bucket before coming out with a single piece of paper "The Senior marine biologist at Satan City Aquarium" There was then a synchronised shout of "Yes!" that came all the three of the group, obviously pleased with the result.

"Rumour, Paige, Ping and Pong… Sport's director at Satan City Sport Stadium" both Ping and Pong gave a shout of approval and pumped their fists in the air at the prospect of being involved in the preparation of this week's Baseball game, while Rumour didn't seem to mind either way, and Paige groaned in displeasure.

The next few minutes seemed to continue in a similar manner, with both roars of excitement and noises of disgust. Banks, Car dealerships, National Parks and Shopping Centres were all called out, with the trio of Erasa, Sharpener and Videl all awaiting their names to be called, and then the moment finally came.

"Sharpener, Erasa and Videl…" The teacher paused. Videl could feel her heart practically jumping out her chest as the teacher seemed to take his sweet old time in reaching into the bucket. After unfolding the piece of paper the teacher raised both eyebrows and looked to the three in the back row with a big grin plastered on his face.

"My, aren't you three lucky? Executive director of science and inventing at… Capsule Corporation"

The jaws of all three students seemed to drop in disbelief. Had they really just been given the opportunity to meet the one and only Bulma Briefs and work alongside her for a whole month? It was almost like a dream, no scratch that, not even in their wildest dreams would that even believe this would happen.

While Videl did a fairly decent job of containing her excitement in an effort to uphold her 'tough girl' persona, she did have difficulty when both Sharpener and Erasa seemed to leap ten feet in the air pumping their fists in the air and exchanging high fives with one another. All the while most of the class looked on in a mix of amusement and jealousy.

Once Videl had managed to knock some sense into her friends (Mainly by punching Sharpener in the head while he tried to hug Videl) the teacher finished up the job of announcing names and positions and handed each student details retaining to their timetable and location.

"That's everybody. Now the Apprentice Program is effective from tomorrow morning. You will no longer report to school, for the next four weeks you will be expected to arrive at your designated location at whatever time your sheet says. Now I warn you all, this is strictly educational, we will not tolerate anyone acting out of line. If we receive a single call concerning your behaviour you will be forced to complete theory work I set for you to do here. I am clear?" All students nodded their head, seeming to take this very seriously and dreading the idea of being forced back to school alone for an entire month.

"Good, now back to work"

1:30 pm – Lunch time: Videl, Sharpener and Erasa all made their way to a lone table under a single tree with their spirits as high as ever.

"I still can't believe we get to work with Bulma Briefs" Erasa exclaimed feeling giddy with anticipation. Sharpener nodded his head and couldn't prevent a large smile making its way to his face. Videl however seemed slightly in doubt.

"I don't know Erasa, I mean didn't Mr Rowe say we were working with the executive director or something. Isn't Bulma Brief the CEO?" she questioned.

"Yeah, but Mrs. Brief is the one who invents everything right? So maybe she's both in charge of the science area and company"

Videl seemed to understand Erasa's point of view and found it difficult to fault her logic. "I guess you're right, I mean I don't think I've ever heard of Capsule Corp. ever having an executive director, so it must be Bulma Briefs"

Tuesday – 9:06 am: Erasa and Videl stood gazing at the behemoth of a building feeling slightly intimidated at the task that lay before them. This would be there second home for the next month and had to make sure they didn't make complete fools of themselves while they were there. It didn't help the fact that Sharpener was already 6 minutes late, certainly not a good first impression on the most influential woman in the world.

"Hey!" yelled Sharpener as he approached the two girls, he was dressed from head to toe in a khaki blazer and pants with a black tie and white undershirt, along with some black dress shoes.

"Where the heck have you been" both girls yelled in unison. Taken aback by the venomous tone the two employed, Sharpener grew more and more afraid under the intense glare of Videl and powerful stance of Erasa. If there was anything Sharpener knew about women (Which wasn't much, despite being a self-proclaimed 'ladies' man') it was to never, under any circumstances get a girl mad, it could only end in disaster.

"I was getting my suit ready for the big moment. And then I went to the flower stall in the city, but they didn't open till nine thirty" Sharpener said defensively.

"What on earth did you go to the flower stall, and why are you dressed in that idiotic suit?" Videl demanded, taking an intimidating pace towards Sharpener making him back up.

"I wanted to impress Bulma Briefs. She is one of the sexiest women alive after all" Both Videl and Erasa couldn't contain their frustration which was clearly evident on their faces.

"So you're saying you kept us waiting so you could try and carry out a plan to flirt with Bulma Briefs?" Erasa asked, each word becoming more and more heated.

"Just forget it for now Erasa" Videl said as she checked her watch. "Were already late as it is, well talk about it later, we can't afford to waste any more time"

With the decision being unanimous the three finally made the daunting walk to the front doors of Capsule Corporation. Awaiting them was an intercom making each of the three look at one another reluctant to be the one to announce their presence. Fortunately Videl being the most daring decided she would have to take charge. Pushing the glowing red button, Videl brought her face to the microphone, just as a voice was emitted from the small box.

"Welcome to Capsule Corporation, do you have an appointment?" came a cheerful and practiced voice not too dissimilar to that of Erasa's.

"Yes, this is Videl, Erasa and Sharpener. Were students of Orange Star High, were here for the Apprentice Program" Videl informed.

"Just a second" Came the voice once again. There was then a small pause before the female voice addressed the teenagers once again.

"Please step right in" the lady said before an audible clink could be heard from the front door. Obviously signalling the door being unlocked. Stepping inside the three were met with a large gust of air conditioned breeze. Despite only being in the reception, the three couldn't help but marvel at the cleanliness of everything.

"Hello there" came the same voice as earlier. Sitting behind the desk was a girl in her mid-twenties; she had dark brown hair and green eyes, with red lipstick and large dimples on both cheeks that were present with her extremely broad smile.

"Hello you three, my names Maria. Firstly I would like to welcome you to Capsule Corporation and I hope that the next four weeks will be an enjoyable experience for you. I've contacted Mrs. Briefs for you, she will be in shortly. Please have a seat in the meantime"

This was it. This was the moment of truth, Bulma Briefs, the smartest and most powerful woman on planet earth was about to stand before and tutor these three teens for an entire month. None of the students could stop the butterflies in their stomachs, it was the single tensest moment Videl had ever felt. Sure she had risked her life for the police force on countless occasions, but making an impression on your idol was a one shot deal, no second chances. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the door in the corner opened, revealing the blue haired beauty with the intelligence that outclassed nearly the entire world. Bulma Brief.

The woman in questioned carefully gave each student a once over. If Vegeta was any indication, she was very good at gauging a person from first impressions. "Hello you three. Sorry I'm late" Bulma apologized. She then watched with some interest as the two blondes began stammering incoherent gibberish, obviously feeling way in over their heads. Luckily Videl was on hand to provide some redeeming impression.

"Miss Brief it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Videl and that's Erasa and Sharpener" Videl said with the most amount of confidence she could muster.

"Nice to meet you all. And for the record it's Mrs. Brief, but don't worry with the formality. Just call me Bulma, it rolls off the tongue a bit better don't you think?"

Videl nodded her head in agreement, but inside she was having extreme complexities in shaking with fear. Sharpener too seemed the same, that was evident when he began laughing hysterically for no reason whatsoever almost frightening everyone in the room.

"Yes… Well anyway, I'd love to sit and talk, but we've got a lot of work to get done. So I'll get you guys set up as soon as possible. Please follow me" Bulma requested and she proceeded to lead the three students to an elevator which took them up three floors.

"Here we are" Bulma announced as the doors opened to reveal a long, wide hallways which housed multiple rooms off the both sides. She then led the three all the way to end of the hall where a singular door stood awaiting them.

"Are you all ready?" Bulma asked. However before Sharpener or Videl could answer, Erasa jumped in front.

"Before we go any further Mrs- I mean Bulma, I just want to say what an honour it is to have you as a mentor for the next month" There was then a long silence, while Bulma processed the information.

"Wait, you think I'm managing you guys?" Bulma asked genuinely confused. All three then shared looks with one another.

"You mean you're not? I thought we were under the guidance of the executive director or something. That is you right?" Videl asked bewildered at Bulma's obvious confusion.

"No I'm not the Executive Director, in fact that is why we're here" Bulma said gesturing to the door in front of them as she pushed the green panel sliding the door out the way so everyone could see what the room contained.

"Videl, Sharpener, Erasa. Allow me to introduce to you the executive director of science here at Capsule Corporation, my god son, Gohan"

* * *

 **Oh dear left on a cliff hanger, in true Dragon Ball Z style. Dare I say it?**

 **Find out what happens, in the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to a successful reception, I have decided to continue this story.**

 **I am pleased that many of you enjoyed the first chapter, thank-you for the positive feedback.**

* * *

Chapter 2

" **Videl, Sharpener, Erasa. Allow me to introduce to you the executive director of science here at Capsule Corporation, my god son, Gohan"**

As the words escaped Bulma's mouth the door, now opened, revealed this unknown person by the name of 'Gohan'. Needless to say, the three high school students were completely flabbergasted at the results of the initial reveal. It was almost universally accepted that those who bore the title of 'Executive Director' of anything were typically well educated and showed vast amounts of experience which could only come through years of hard work, thus in turn that person was usually depicted as being of an age that was far beyond that of the average high school student. However this mysterious figure that stood before them was anything but. Not a single one of the trio seemed to be capable of hiding their shock, nor could they even have enough control to prevent their jaws from nearly dropping to the floor. Whatever assumptions they had made about their soon to be mentor were swiftly abolished.

Now stepping from the darker shade of the door frame and into the hallway light, the three teens were now capable of examining this mentor much closer, and were shocked at this new revelation. He was barely older than them. This so called Gohan towered above the two girls and was about an inch or two taller than Sharpener, who was considered very tall for his age. Gohan was dressed in a pair of black dress shoes, shined to perfection, with some black slacks to go with it; coupled with his lower body was a white dress shirt that showed no evidence of wrinkles and was tucked neatly into his pants; along with that he sported a red tie and white lab coat over top to complete the image, his shoulders were as broad as humanely possible, providing evidence that there was much more hidden beneath that suit. But it wasn't just the suit and figure that impressed, a further inspection of the strangers face almost made Erasa faint out of pure bliss. His pure, jet black hair stood completely spiked which seemed to defy gravity, except for a lone lock of hair which managed to obey the laws of physics and hung casually over his forehead. Along with that his black eyes seemed to match his hair colour to the smallest detail, it was almost hypnotic, like looking into an endless pool of mystique and mystery. His jaw and cheek bones were incredibly well defined and chiseled so much so that any male model in the world would be jealous, and his skin was almost pure white; the complete polar opposite to his aforementioned eyes and hair.

There was then a long moment of silence within the hall as Gohan and Bulma watched the teens with some interest as they fumbled over simple phrases. Both Bulma and Gohan exchanged a brief look at one another trying to gauge the situation; Bulma however could only shrug at Gohan's unasked question.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Gohan, I look forward to working with you guys for the next four weeks" Gohan introduced with his hand stretched out front expecting a handshake. Once again there was a small silence that fell over the group, before Erasa was on hand to break the ice that is. Enthusiastically the blonde accepted the boy's invitation and brought her hand to meet his.

"Nice to meet you cutie, my names Erasa, with an 'E' and these are my friends Sharpener and Videl" her ever present bubbly tone never ceasing to fail her. However she did find difficulty holding everything together when the tall teen unleashed the infamous son smirk on the girl, practically making her melt.

"It's a pleasure Erasa, I'm sure you'll enjoy it here" Gohan claimed with the utmost confidence. The Son boy then turned to the remaining two students and held his hand in front of the other female of the group.

Videl, now snapping back to reality, inspected the exposed hand, not sure if this was some kind of test or perhaps a twisted joke, and it wasn't long before her knack for asking questions made itself apparent. Meeting the boy's eyes with hers she intensified her stare seeming to have his undivided attention.

"Let me get this straight, you're the Executive Director of science here?" she asked. To which she received a nod and smile from the boy.

"That's me" he replied happily without a care in the world.

" _You_ Are the Executive Director? _You_ specifically?" she clearly wasn't about to accept this until she was presented with some hard evidence. Gohan watched the girl intrigued at her refusal and inability to understand what his position was. After taking hold of the identification keycard that hung on his waist, Gohan presented the piece of plastic before Videl. Videl looked quizzically at the card and made sure to get a _real_ good look at it.

In the middle of the I.D was a picture of Gohan, his full name 'Son Gohan' was written underneath his picture, and under that in bold letters read 'Executive Director of Science and Inventing'; sitting above all of that was none other than the Capsule Corp logo. After feeling the girl had seen enough, Gohan retracted the card.

"Like I said, that's me" he repeated.

"Wait; how old are you?" asked Sharpener, finally asking the question that everyone wanted to know.

"Well, I wouldn't expect to be any older than you guys. I've just turned eighteen" Gohan answered.

"You're eighteen and the Executive Director at Capsule Corporation" Erasa asked extremely intrigued to see if the boy had the mind that could match his level in looks.

"Actually I was hired when I was sixteen, and I've worked here for the past two and a half years" Gohan responded nonchalantly.

"Sixteen!" exclaimed Erasa shocked at this new development. "Why would you hire someone at the age of sixteen?" Videl asked turning to the blue haired woman.

"I think the real question is, why didn't I hire him sooner? Trust me when I say that I have been witness to multiple brilliant minds in my lifetime; none however, have the capacities nor knowledge that Gohan possesses. I've known him since he was only four years old, and even then, his academic mind was on a level similar to my own. And today, dare I say it; his abilities far exceed my own in many different fields" Bulma explained, clearly not willing to sugar coat anything.

"Yeah but…" Erasa began, only to be silenced by Bulma holding her hand in front of her as the universal sign to stop talking.

"Enough talk for now. I really have to get back to work; Dende knows what my engineers will manage to blow up if I'm not on hand to supervise. In the meantime I'll leave you three in the very capable hands of Gohan, he will explain to you the ground rules and background of what you will be doing. I expect you to do as he says, and once again, welcome to Capsule Corporation" with that said, Bulma looked to her god son and gave him a small nod, which Gohan returned with one of his own.

"Who's Dende?" Sharpener asked half absentmindedly and half to Gohan; who looked between the three students to see them all expecting an answer. With the shake of a head Gohan answered swiftly.

"It's just an inside joke, don't worry about it" he then moved to the side of the door frame and gestured for the apprentices to enter. "Please step inside; we can continue everything in my office"

Hesitantly Videl entered the 'office' first with her two friends' right on her heels. And once again she couldn't contain her gasp. The enormity of the room was certainly a sight to behold, but it was the crisp, professional, inviting appeal that made it such a spectacle. The floor was a nice grey hardwood with cream walls; off to the left of the room was an electronic fireplace surrounded by a nice black lounge set of couches and sofas, which sat on top of a white carpet. Straight ahead; at the end of the room, sitting up a step higher than the floor, was a huge modern desk, which housed three Capsule Corp computer monitors, multiple stacks of papers and files. On the right side of the room stood multiple designer bookshelves which were connected to the wall, and every one of them was stuffed full of literature.

Gohan observed the three with great interest, oblivious as to why they had this tendency to make an entire room to go almost mute just by being present; he actually found the entire ordeal quite funny and chuckled silently as each one of them wore the same look of amazement on their faces. Deciding that he shouldn't waste any more precious time, Gohan approached the fireplace and took a seat on one of the couches and waved for the other three to accompany him. Following suit, Sharpener and Erasa took a seat on the large sofa, with Videl seated on a couch which sat opposite Gohan, only separated by a very pricey looking coffee table.

"Right, I'm getting the sense that you guys still have a few more questions for me. So before we go any further I'll give you guys the opportunity to ask me whatever you want and I will do my best to give you an answer" Gohan said reluctantly. Sure he didn't mind making things between them less stressful, but opening up to complete strangers was difficult when you are talking about the life of a Demi-Saiyan.

Videl was quite surprised to say the least, not many people would willingly give up information to her without some kind of fight, this was most definitely a rare occurrence; one she would not allow to slip through her fingers.

"You mentioned you were hired at sixteen, does that mean you finished school early?" Videl asked immediately seeming to have a mental list already compiled.

"Technically no, I was born and raised in the 439 mountain area. Because there is a shortage of schools there I was home schooled, I've never been to a proper school in my life. But I never needed to graduate, Bulma said I would be able to do my job even before I became a teenager" Gohan explained, leaving all three surprised that a country boy without a formal education would be capable of reaching the highest stage in science and inventing even before they would be leaving middle school.

"So if you are the Executive whatever, what does that mean you do?" Sharpener now asked, very intrigued as to what potential work they would be involved in.

"Executive Director of Science and Inventing" Gohan corrected. "In layman's terms, that means I am head of both the science and inventing departments of Capsule Corp. I work up close with the brilliant minds we have here and give them instructions and guidance, but most of my time is dedicated to inventing the 'next big thing' as Bulma likes to put it"

"What exactly have you invented?" Videl asked quickly in an effort to test Gohan's track record.

"Well let me ask you this; have any one of you purchased a Capsule Corporation product that was released in the last two years?" the son boy then received a trio of nods to his question. "What exactly did you buy?"

"My dad got me the new jet-copter last year" Videl stated.

"Ah yes, the old Jet-Copter, one of my first inventions in fact. Turned out to be quite the money spinner in the long run" Gohan chuckled aloud.

"Wait, _you_ invented it?" Videl asked dumbfounded.

"That I did. In actual fact it was my first invention to hit the market, I came up with the design when I was sixteen. Bulma wanted to give me a small test; I had twenty four hours to design a new product that was the perfect balance of practicality and affordability. There's no point in creating something for the average Joe if its price tag is astronomical. To put it in perspective, anything that has been introduced to the market by Capsule Corp in the last two years, has most likely been designed by me. The way me and Bulma work, is that I am the mind and she is the hands, I design and she helps my ideas come to fruition. Jet-Copters, Hover Bikes, phones, computers, space shuttles and my personal favorite, the 'max capacity food capsule' were all designed and tested by me"

To say Videl was shocked was a severe understatement. She had been the proud owner of the famous Jet-Copter for a year and a half and the whole time she had wrongly assumed it was the brain child of Bulma Briefs. But it just didn't make sense, why would someone like Gohan invent such a revolutionary mode of transportation and not be recognized for it?

"But if you invented it, why aren't you ever said to have been involved. And why aren't you ever mentioned in the media or at press conferences in general?" Gohan however had known from the get-go that this question was inevitable.

"I know it may seem trivial, but I have three reasons as an answer to your question. Firstly, interviews and public speeches aren't exactly my forte, sure I'm fine at small talk, but standing and talking to an audience of potentially thousands of people is my idea of a nightmare, while Bulma is an expert in such matters, capable of handling any questions thrown at her and is appealing to the public. Secondly my image isn't the best way to sell products" after seeing the three eyes him quizzically he sighed and continued. "Let me put it this way; if someone our age was considered a prodigy in medicine and opened a clinic that had them in charge of heart or brain surgery, would you want to actually have them perform life threatening surgery on you? I guarantee you; a vast majority of the public would rather seek someone with better qualifications and experience. My situation is the same principle, if after years of running the company Bulma's face was to be replaced by mine; Capsule Corp would no doubt lose a large amount of potential buyers who would prefer to buy a car that wasn't designed by a teenager. And thirdly hinges on my personal life, of which I value very much. I was never one for the spotlight, I don't want someone shaking my hand or noticing me on the street"

It took Videl a little bit to process this newfound information. She had to admit, this wasn't exactly the answer she anticipated, in fact she was unsure whether it was better or worse than she predicted earlier. Sensing that Videl had no more questions, Erasa seized the opportunity that was presented to her.

"So Gohan, what do you do outside of Capsule Corporation?"

"You mean like hobbies?" he then brought his hand to his chin and rubbed it thoughtfully. "Well despite working for CC, I'm still a country boy at heart. I still live there in fact, with my mother and younger brother. But to answer your question I spend most of my free time swimming, fishing, or sparring with my brother" Now that was certainly a way to capture Videl's interest.

"You train in martial arts?" she asked now giving the boy her undivided attention.

"Ever since I started reading I was taught in the ways of martial arts" he replied with a grin.

"Do you ever fight competitively?"

"Can't say I have. I never willingly fight another person unless I have to. I only adopted martial arts to protect my friends and family, and I only continue to train for recreational purposes or to teach my brother. It kind of runs in the family"

Videl felt somewhat deflated afterwards, it was a rare occurrence for someone her age to be invested in martial arts, and there was nothing like testing a person's abilities with a good old fashioned spar, but if someone wasn't truly committed to the lifestyle of an elite fighter then Videl would typically find herself breezing through the competition.

"If you liked the country so much, why come here?" Erasa questioned as she noted how he would give a small smile anytime he reminisced about the countryside.

"Unfortunately I didn't really have a choice. Seven years ago my father…" Gohan paused as he had to regain himself "he passed away, leaving my mother without her significant other and my brother now born into a world without a father. From there I was unwillingly placed into a position where I would carry the burden of the man and sole provider of the household. Problem is, my mum is too headstrong for her own good, not willing to accept even a single Zeni from Bulma, so left with few other options I spoke to Bulma about working for Capsule Corp" Unsurprisingly yet another silence befell the astonished teens as they tried to come to terms with Gohan's situation. They all now gazed upon the boy with a mix of both sympathy and respect; under no circumstances would his situation be easy, it was certainly not for the faint of heart.

"Anyway" Gohan said shaking away the painful memories. "If there are no more questions, is there anything I should know about you guys before we officially begin?" All three teens looked to one another and shrugged.

"There's not really much to tell" Sharpener admitted. Though he didn't want to admit it, this Gohan had done more in his teen years than Sharpener could ever hope to accomplish in his entire life.

"Except for the fact that or Videl here is a celebrity" Erasa interjected. "Celebrity?" Gohan asked now intrigued. Erasa nodded her head in confirmation against her raven haired friend's approval. "She's the daughter of the great Hercule Satan" she cheered. Videl, expecting an outburst or some kind of shock and amazement, braced for the worst. However the only sound she was awarded with was a barely audible "Oh" from the mouth of Gohan.

"Just, oh? That's all?" Videl questioned caught off guard.

"I'm not exactly singing your father's praises, if that's what you're asking" Gohan answered with a shrug. At this Sharpener allowed his unhealthy 'Hercule obsession' to get the better of him.

"Hey the guy saved the world, show some respect!" He roared standing to his feet. Gohan however remained as calm as ever, having been exposed to a large variety of nightmarish creatures in his lifetime; it would take a lot more to intimidate the Son boy.

"I'm well aware of Hercules _efforts_ at the Cell Games" Gohan stated stressing the word 'efforts' due to the fact that he was not willing to acknowledge the frauds claim of victory. "But over the past seven years he has only been a thorn in this company's side. On multiple occasions he has hounded us, trying to buyout Capsule Corp and tried to turn into 'Champion Capsules' even after repeatedly being told no. And what was his response? He mocked Bulma, I and the entire team here at Capsule Corporation, I refuse to respect someone if they target my friends. But it's not just from a business standpoint either; he even managed to take it one step further…"

"What did he say?" Videl wondered dreading the answer. She knew her father had a tendency to act high and mighty, especially in front of the media. But she was never aware as to what the specifics were.

"I'm not sure even Mr. Satan realizes the full extent of what his words have done…" Gohan responded in an icy tone, which made Videl cringe and Erasa stare wide eyed at this sudden change in attitude, Sharpener then went silent and quietly took his seat feeling he had been put in his place. An awkward tension then came over the room for the next few moments, as the high school students felt uneasy as Gohan seemed to be deep in thought. Finally shaking his head snapping him back to reality, Gohan drew his attention back to the trio and cracked a half smile. Checking his watch which now read 10:14 am, he contemplated what actions would be most appropriate as an introduction.

"Well I think that's enough talk for now, I say we get to business. Before I give you the full tour of your workspace for the next four weeks, I'm required to establish a few ground rules" Gohan paused allowing the teens to nod their heads in understanding. "Okay. Rule number one; you will do what I say when I say it, it is my task to keep you alive and injury free for the next month, and I do not want to be held responsible for an accident that came as a result of your inability to follow orders. Secondly do not go anywhere, or touch anything without mine or Bulma's instruction or supervision. We don't want anyone being crushed or having their flesh burnt off" Gohan added as a small joke, but judging by the nervous expressions the three gave him, he understood that perhaps they didn't find the joke quite as amusing as himself. "Rule number three; I believe you would all be doing yourself a favor by staying in the guest wing here for the duration of your program. It's a long journey from here to Satan City and I don't want you exhausted from travel before the day begins. So tonight I want you all to pack the essentials, and tomorrow morning report to Capsule Corp about an hour early so we can get you all set up. Do you all understand?" All three now nodded their heads once more in confirmation. "Excellent, now let's get started. Please follow me"

Gohan then stood from his chair and casually walked out his office and to the elevator with Videl, Erasa and Sharpener in tow. Once they entered the elevator, Gohan took hold of his identification card and inserted it into a key card slot with was located underneath the numbered buttons on the wall. After a green light lit up the panel to confirm authorization, Gohan hit his desired level and leaned back with his eyes closed wondering how successful or disastrous the ensuing four weeks would be.

When the elevator had come to a halt, the doors slowly began to pry open, revealing the chaotic and wondrous world of Capsule Corporations science and inventing facilities. The entire floor itself was dedicated to mechanical tinkering and scientific research and housed multiple completed and newly designed inventions prepped for testing. There was around a dozen people working amongst the jungle of test tubes and engineering equipment, all of them, Videl noted, were composed mostly of middle aged members, vastly older than their adolescent Executive Director.

Videl, Erasa and Sharpener all looked on in astonishment at the mere scale of everything, it was buzzing with life and enthusiasm. The room was widespread with huge double doors on each of the four walls, on the right side there was a sign above the doors that read 'Inventing wing' and the left read 'Science wing' and the doors right at the end read 'Testing Wing' which was self-explanatory. On the right half of the room there was multiple work benches of considerable sizes, all lined up perfectly in rows that were spread apart by about three meters. Each bench was also littered with blue prints, papers, tools and various materials ranging from metal to plastic and glass.

"Welcome to your life for the next four weeks" Gohan said with a smile. The science wing always had a way of making the Son boy smile, and he was happy to be in the company of someone born within the same decade as him; though he enjoyed working with his colleagues, it wasn't easy working on the most advanced stage in modern technology with a team that was his age when Sony introduced the original Walkman. He was then snapped out his thoughts when a lady in her early forties approached Gohan.

"Mr. Son, we've been trying to complete the refrigeration and reheating system for the food capsule, but we've hit… Some obstacles" she stated.

"I'm sure it's not too bad, let me have a look" Gohan replied. He then looked to the trio and tilted his head for them to follow.

He was then lead through a course of tables and inventions, ducking and weaving around his other workmates, before arriving at a workbench which had a single capsule sitting atop the counter with blue prints stuck to the wall and tiny components surrounding.

"We've been having troubles making the heating unit function properly, it has a tendency to stop completely when the refrigeration is turned back on" the woman explained. Gohan nodded his head in understanding. "Johnathan and I have tried looking at the original designs, but we've had no luck in discovering the problem" Gohan then began the careful process of inspecting the capsule for any faults; he delicately separated the capsule into two pieces and studied the insides.

"What's that?" Erasa asked immersed in what Gohan was doing.

"It's a new type of food capsule" Gohan replied bringing the struggling invention close enough for the girl to inspect. "Every other food capsule on the market only stores food at room temperature, making it inadequate for storing certain types of food. This is the new design I came up with which will hopefully be capable of storing food at much colder temperatures to keep it from going bad. Were also working to make the capsule heat food before it is brought out, making it the ideal choice for early risers who don't have time for breakfast at home" Erasa nodded her head, understanding what kind of benefit this could have for the food industry. After examining the capsule close enough, Gohan felt he had determined the problem.

"I think I see the problem" Gohan claimed. "There is a problem with the venting system, making the heat difficult to maintain. I'll come back later and fix the problem, thanks Kathy" Nodding her head in acknowledgment, Kathy turned and proceeded to consult her assistant about the solution.

Gohan then carefully placed the capsule back to its original position and addressed his three temporary apprentices. "As you can see here at Capsule Corp we will stop at nothing to achieve our goals, something I expect from each one of you" he said with a grin. "Now as I was about to say. All that you see here will be your workspace for the remainder of your stay, luckily we are not limited to just a single field of expertise and we no doubt have many positions open for you three to be involved in"

"What kind of work do you think you'll give us?" Videl asked.

"That all depends on where your skills will be of most benefit. I don't expect you all to be involved in the same work station. I'll talk to you about it after we complete the tour, please follow me"

For the next hour Gohan continued with the very lengthy tour, showing the trio the Science, Inventing and Testing rooms, as well as having them better acquainted with the team that Bulma had assembled. He then further explained the duties he had been tasked with. After the tour had come to a close, Gohan brought the students back to his private office to discuss the possible work positions that could be given.

"Now that you have seen the facilities, it's time to assign you people your temporary careers" Gohan told them as he began flipping through a clip board to find a list of open positions. "So the way this will work is; I'm going to give you the details and specifics of the potential jobs, and if you feel inclined to be involved just say so, make sense?"

All three nodded eagerly, the moment had finally come. Just visiting Capsule Corporation was an accomplishment in itself, but having the opportunity to _work_ there was on another level entirely.

"First position" Gohan announced. "Junior product tester; what that entails is that you will work up close with the testing crew and will be a part of sending us feedback on any potential problems or successes you notice" Almost immediately Sharpener stood up and raised his hand to the ceiling.

"I'll take that one" He said with the utmost confidence and excitement. The idea of getting a sneak peek at Capsule Corps new products before release was no doubt a very inviting job.

"Well that was easy" Gohan chuckled. "You're very lucky, the position actually just opened a week ago when one of the team quit"

"Why did he quit?" Sharpener asked.

"There was a minor setback during the testing for the newest hover-bike" Gohan informed, choosing to keep the details a secret. Sharpener however was not convinced. "What happened?"

"There was a failure in the reserve fuel tank, there was a small leakage, causing the bike to fall about twenty meters in midflight" Sharpeners face now turned from a look of intrigue and contorted to one of pure shock and nervousness. "Hey don't worry about it, he was wearing a Capsule Corp approved helmet so he was only unconscious for about an hour after the impact, when he came to he was completely fine" Gohan assured. Though in the reality the man was concussed for the following twenty four hours and ended up with a broken wrist, but Gohan didn't feel those details were entirely necessary.

"Well if you're not sure, I can get you a job in the Science department" Gohan hinted in a high voice. By the look of horror the blonde boy gave him, Gohan could only smirk in satisfaction.

"No!" Sharpener interjected a little too loudly. "It's fine, I want the testing job"

"If you say so" Gohan said as he proceeded to make a record of which positions had been filled and by whom.

"Next job; model maker, tasked with creating 3D models of designs for future reference, this process is done before we undergo full creation of the final product" He then looked between the two girls and saw nothing but blank stares on their faces. "No?" he questioned to which he received a simultaneous shake of heads.

"Don't you have anything with less…? Science work?" Erasa asked for lack of a better word, causing Gohan allow a small smile to break onto to his face. After carefully sifting through the various sheets of paper, Gohan's eyes landed on a position he was sure meet the approval of the bubbly blonde.

"I think I've found just what you want" Gohan claimed. "Science department receptionist"

"Isn't that the job of that Maria girl?" Erasa asked.

"Not specifically, she is mainly the assistant to Bulma and rarely gives us proper information regarding to our area of expertise. You'll be responsible for planning our timetable, updating us on deadlines as well as new shipments and will take calls from customers and potential buyers, this will require insider knowledge of our products, which I'll be sure to supply you with if you want the job"

"Absolutely!" Erasa said overjoyed at this position. It suited her appealing personality to a tee.

"Glad to hear it" Gohan responded happy at the girl's enthusiasm, rewarding her with a sly wink, making the blonde girl blush slightly and giggle. He then checked 'Receptionist' off the list and directed his attention solely on Videl, Gohan then consulted his piece of paper and chose the next job on the list. "I don't suppose you would want to a job in metalwork?" Gohan asked hopefully, wishing to get this process done and dusted in the most efficient way possible; to his misfortune however Videl replied with a simple "No" making him sigh.

"Product management?" another "No"

"Electrical engineering?" a shake of the head.

"Repair unit?" a shrug of the shoulders.

Allowing another sigh to escape his lips, Gohan examined his sheet of paper a little closer and raised his eyebrows at the job he had managed to uncover. _'Perhaps this'_ he thought with a grimace, while it wouldn't have been his ideal choice for the girl or himself, he came to the conclusion that this was the best course of action.

"Junior Executive Director?" that certainly peaked the Satan girl's interest.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's a position that would put you and myself up close and personal, you'll basically be working as an assistant for me, you'll be involved in all the same duties I am" Gohan explained.

Videl began to mentally weigh her options, she had experienced firsthand the position of power Gohan possessed, and she had to admit it was certainly an appealing line of work. Feeling she had come to the conclusion the girl nodded satisfied with this option.

"Sounds good to me" she affirmed to which Gohan smiled in approval. He had to give her some credit for accepting such a daunting task, not many people he knew would be willing to be placed on such a high pedestal where the slightest misstep lead to a certain fall.

"I must warn you though" Gohan began. "You'll have to work extra hours. While your friends will be knocking off at about four to five o'clock, I have to work for an extra two hours, meaning you'll have to accompany me for that time"

Videl nodded in understanding, normally the girl would want the easiest route for such a menial task; but while she was in the presence of one of the world's greatest minds, she was not willing to back down from a challenge, when the girl was committed to a goal she would see it through to the end.

"That's no problem" she assured. "I'm not that easily deterred, I am a Satan after all"

The Son boy was now torn between approving of the girls confidence and bursting to laughter. How ironic it was for the word 'Satan' to supposedly mean confident, headstrong and powerful, when Gohan had witnessed firsthand the cowardly and phony foundations that the name was truly built upon.

"Fair enough" Gohan responded suppressing his laughter with as much willpower as he could muster. Placing his clipboard on his desk, Gohan referred back to his watch which now read '1:34 P.M' and came to the conclusion that no real work could be accomplished in such a short period of time.

"Well I'm not sure we can go any further today. So I say we call it here and begin the real work tomorrow" Gohan suggested, to which the students responded with approval. He then lead the soon to be apprentices to the ground level and out the door to see them off. However fate it seemed had a strange twisted way of conveniently placing a certain Saiyan prince out the front, the man was clad in his traditional blue spandex suit, white boots and gloves. His bare arms made Gohan's company do a complete double take at the masses of muscle that were very evident. After spotting the Demi-Saiyan, Vegeta scowled in the boy's direction.

"Brat!" he bellowed. "Have you any idea of the whereabouts of my brat!?" he half asked, half demanded. The harsh tone however had little effect on Gohan who had been exposed to it for most of his life.

"I think Trunks is staying with Goten and mum for the night, why?" Gohan wondered.

Allowing a growl of disapproval to emit from his throat, Vegeta responded icily. "The damn G.R broke again; the woman refuses to fix it so I'm in need of a proper sparring partner. A true saiyan never rests after all"

Shaking his head at the antics of the so called prince, Gohan chuckled lightly. "Fair enough. You still up for some friendly competition tomorrow?" Gohan asked cockily. Despite their differences, Gohan did enjoy humoring Vegeta at least once a week with an intense sparring session inside the gravity room.

"Are you deaf or just slow?" Vegeta responded. "I already said the G.R is broken, and unless you intend on fixing it there will be no 'friendly competition" the words 'friendly competition' were delivered in the most condescending tone the saiyan prince was capable of mustering. "A true warrior has no time for friendly, the strong triumph and the weak perish"

Ignoring the last comment Gohan rolled his eyes, this was the third time this month when the Gravity Room was no longer functional. And while Bulma usually took it upon herself to be in charge of repair, she would occasionally hand the responsibility over to Gohan due to her short fuse when it came to her husband.

"I'll have a look at the damage tonight and get the necessary equipment prepped for a repair tomorrow morning" Gohan informed to which Vegeta gave a stiff nod. His attention then turned to the three teens that were now in a state of confusion at the foreign terms and odd conversation that was taking place.

"Why are you in the company of these weaklings?" Vegeta exclaimed. Making Erasa take cover behind Gohan and Videl to allow some shred of her pride become evident.

"Who are you calling weaklings!?" Videl roared.

Gohan however ignored the girls comment and answered with his ever calm demeanor. "They're here for the next four weeks for an apprentice program; I have to show them the ropes of how we operate"

"Well you might want to keep her on a shorter leash" Vegeta said gesturing to Videl who was ready to explode. "She looks like she might bite" he then allowed a very cocky laugh to escape his lips.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" Sharpener informed. "You're talking to Videl Satan, daughter of the one and only Hercule"

There was then a slight pause, with Videl and Sharpener smirking in satisfaction believing that the man was shaking in his boots. However all those thoughts were abolished when the infuriating laugh sounded once again at a much larger frequency than before.

"Oh so the buffoon gave birth to a brat just as deluded as he is? I didn't think stupidity was genetic" he laughed without a care in the world. Eventually however the condescending noise became too much for a certain Raven haired female, who decided to respond in true Satan style, physical retaliation.

Pushing past Gohan the girl made a leap with fist held back expecting to feel the man's ribcage crumple under the girl's extreme force. But before any of her expectations could become reality she felt a sensation similar to a vice grip encase her wrist stopping her just as her feet were leaving the ground. Looking down she noticed the very large hand of Gohan holding her back with an iron grip.

"Let go of me!" she ordered trying to pry apart the fingers that circled around her small wrist. But had no success in even separating a single finger, she would have had more luck attempting to tear a piece of steel in half. She then looked up to the culprit behind her unsuccessful attempts and glared at the boy, the boy however kept his expression neutral and slowly shook his head back and forth.

"Quite the fire cracker, control that temper girl, it will only get you killed against a Saiyan elite" Vegeta mocked as he proceeded back inside before muttering something along the lines of "Pathetic humans"

Once he felt Vegeta was now a safe distance away, Gohan released his grip on Videl's wrist, but made sure to block the front door as an added measure. Meanwhile said girl was having trouble comprehending the fact that Gohan was capable of apprehending her with the barest of applied efforts.

"I suppose I should have said this earlier…" Gohan said eyeing Videl closely. "Ruler number four; stay away from Vegeta at _all_ costs and you'll survive. You'd be wise to heed that warning" Gohan then broke back to this usual grin not willing to leave the day on such a dark note.

"I hope you all enjoyed your first day here, please report back at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. As of now, you three are officially part of Capsule Corporation"

* * *

 **Next time: First day of official work at Capsule Corporation. And an interesting sparring session between Gohan and Vegeta.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I would just like to clarify that I am aware that Gohan is not smarter than Bulma in the anime.**

 **However I do feel that his intelligence was skipped over and never actually became relevant within the anime, this is just how I feel a smarter Gohan would be.**

* * *

Chapter 3

11:21 pm: Videl lay in bed, unable to succumb to the world of sleep. She had just completed the task of packing the essential items for her future stint as a Capsule Corporation employee, while the girl knew that the menial task would take Erasa hours to complete due to her love of clothes, fashion and cosmetics, the deed for Videl wasn't nearly as complicated. Videl's idea of proper attire only ever consisted of a baggy shirt and biker shorts. This meant the girl never willingly dressed in any clothes she deemed too 'girly' unless it was for a formal banquet or conference to seem somewhat respectable, and in these situations Videl downright refused to interact or even be seen by anybody she was familiar with, rather choosing to stay hidden as best she could; the idea of being seen in such a situation would most likely destroy her 'tough girl' persona that she had purposefully built over the years.

However at this time, the raven haired teenager was conflicted. While her simplistic fashion sense was what she preferred, she wasn't confident that her style was suitable for an employee of the world's leading science, inventing and product development companies. Much to the girl's distaste she reluctantly picked a few choice clothing items that she hoped would suffice for the ensuing weeks, and while said items were extremely expensive, Videl only wore each outfit on one occasion, preferring to erase all memories and humiliation of wearing such constricting and overly uncomfortable clothing, Videl also cracked a small smile, imagining just how jealous her blonde friend would be by owning such a pricy and designer collection of dresses and shoes.

With the packing out of the way, Videl stared up to the roof of her bedroom revisiting the events that had transpired throughout the day. Her first thought turned to her superior and mentor for the next month, Gohan, probably the most surprising aspect of the day. While the girl was initially shocked at the fact that he was her age, what shocked her most was the way he acted; it was far beyond that of a simple school yard teenager, his mannerisms and professional mentality lead her to assume that this boy had matured at a faster rate than nature would usually dictate. But his mind seemed to grow at a rate equal to his physical appearance, Videl didn't know much about boys admittedly, nor did she care to. Despite her ignorance however, she had read somewhere that the male body continues to mature up until the age of twenty one, Gohan on the other hand seemed to have missed the memo, seeming to reach his peak by the age of eighteen. While Sharpener worked his arms to their absolute limits, with obvious results, he still lacked the solid frame of broad shoulders that come with age, a trait that Gohan possessed, he easily stood above the six foot department and his wide shoulders rang alarm bells in Videl's mind, she could tell a fighter from a mile away, and this boy had the solid structure that was only evident through years of dedication. Her attention then returned back to the boy's face, and Videl had to admit to herself, the boy wasn't too bad on the eyes. His chiselled jaw and cheekbones were almost pure perfection, his black eyes and hair blended well with his pure white skin. However the Satan girl still retained that boys were not a priority for her and although sometimes she would concede that _some_ boys were in fact good looking, she still flat out refused to even dwell any further on the matter, the male population was simply a hindrance for Videl and her martial arts dreams. She then dropped the subject of appearances and began thinking about the information she was able to uncover.

' _So he's eighteen, lives in the mountains with his mum and brother and he does martial arts'_ Videl thought to herself. The last fact about the boy was something that intrigued the girl, it was rare for someone in their teens to be fully committed to martial arts to the extent that Videl was, and since Gohan stated he never fought competitively, the girl was still wondering firm in her mind how good he really was. She ran the question through her mind trying to uncover clues or some sort of information that may help, but none came to her.

Her final thought then landed on the arrogant prick that she encountered at the end of the day, someone by the name of Vegeta, even within the confinement of her own room she could hear the smug and cocky laugh resonating through the room and corridors. The girl's neutral expression turned to a frown, furious that Gohan prevented her from giving the bastard a wakeup call. But the one thing that peaked her interest most of all about the man, was the odd conversation he had with Gohan, using foreign terms such as 'G.R' which apparently was broken. _'Maybe it's some kind of CC invention'_ Videl added as an afterthought. But what seemed more trivial was that the man referred to himself as 'elite'. _'Cyan elite? Singing elite? Saying elite? Saiyan_ elite _?'_ Videl asked herself. It seemed idiotic enough to call one's self 'elite' in Videl's eyes, but what exactly was the 'Saiyan' aspect?

Her thoughts then lead her to wonder not only _why_ Gohan stopped her when she lunged to hit Vegeta, but also _how_ he was capable of stopping her. Over the years Videl practiced various forms self-defence to escape any conceivable hold that an opponent may employ to gain an advantage, including the very simple wrist lock the boy used, however she very clearly remembered being unable to even come close to escaping, this was a phenomenon Videl had never been subjected to. The thought pondered for a moment, wondering whether or not Gohan's strength in grip matched his overall body power. After a few minutes of deep thought she sighed in defeat, supposing that whatever the next day held would truly be a whole new experience for her.

Day 1:

7:48 am: Standing in front of Capsule Corp similar to the day before, Videl was accompanied by Erasa, which left both once again waiting for the arrival of the stubborn Sharpener who had assured that he would not turn up late for two days in a row, lest he incur the venomous wrath of his two female friends for the second straight time, and considering the horrific temper both girls were known for, his fear was justified. To his fortune he managed to arrive some ten minutes early and thankfully was not met with girls whose eyes burned with fury.

"Oh look Sharpener actually made it… And he's on time!? Someone record this historical moment" Videl said feigning shock making Erasa giggle. Wisely Sharpener held his tongue, knowing full well Videl was trying to rile him up.

It was at that time that the front doors of the company opened to reveal the tall frame of Gohan. The boy was dressed in his usual white lab coat with his white dress shirt and red tie from the day before now substituted with a blue shirt and a black tie, as usual the boy had the trademarked 'son smile' was plastered on his face. "Good to see that everyone's here" he stated "if you'll follow me I'll take you to your rooms." Gohan then motioned for the three teens to enter the building in front of him, only to witness the blonde girl of the group having no success in moving the suitcase and began to puff in pant with each failed attempt, raising an eyebrow in question, Gohan approached the struggling girl. "What exactly did you bring?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Only the essentials" Erasa stated in between breaths. Videl however just rolled her eyes at the statement.

"Yes Erasa, because a full makeup kit, industrial hair dryer and dozens upon dozens of dresses and Kami knows what else, is definitely 'essential'" Erasa could only respond with an annoyed pout at her friend's sour attitude. Gohan meanwhile barely managed to supress his laughter at the friendly banter between the two, and felt that he would rather not stall this process any longer.

"Need a hand?" he asked the bubbly blonde; however before she even had the opportunity to answer, Videl snorted in amusement. "Please, that thing might as well be made out of granite. I nearly broke my back getting that into my jet copter" Videl stated. Looking to Sharpener for confirmation, Gohan found that the boy was already nodding his head in agreement. "Trust me, if I know anything about Erasa, it's that she prefers quantity over quality" the blonde boy joked.

Nodding his head, Gohan simply looked to the trio of faces and sighed in what seemed to be annoyance. "Don't worry I got it" he said as he managed to lift the stone of a suitcase with the barest amount of effort being applied, he then proceeded to judge the weight of the baggage by moving it around in his grip as if it weighed as much or even less than a feather. "It's not _that_ heavy" he stated, feeling that his new apprentices may have been exaggerating just a tad. _'Then again, they are only humans'_ the boy reminded himself in his head. After spending a majority of his week in Vegeta's 'territory' over the years, Gohan would often be blind to the fact that he was in the company of humans and would then be reminded of the vast gap in physical power between humans and the other worldly race.

Ignoring the incredulous faces all three teens directed at him, Gohan for the second time motioned for the students to lead the way. After throwing a suspicious look towards Gohan and the contents of his hand, Videl complied with the boy's silent order and proceeded to the inside of Capsule Corporation. Upon entering the foursome was greeted by the receptionist Maria who had her prepared welcoming smile plastered on her face.

"Nice to see you all again" she said with a large smile before turning her attention solely towards the blonde haired girl of the group. "Erasa, am I right?" Maria asked hesitantly in an effort to remember the girl's name, she felt somewhat relieved when the teen responded with an enthusiastic nod, confirming that Maria had at least managed to get the name right. "I'll be showing you the ropes throughout your stay here at Capsule Corp"

Directing an exuberant smile towards the receptionist, Erasa made her excitement at this new position apparent. "Awesome! I can't wait" she stated with the utmost sincerity. Taking this time to do a quick Ki check, Gohan noticed that Vegeta was on course to the Son residence, no doubt to retrieve Trunks, leaving him ample time to complete the task he set for himself.

"Maria would you please inform Bulma that repairs for the G.R will begin shortly" Gohan directed to the receptionist, to which he received a swift nod "I'll make sure she gets the message.

After settling this exchange between workmates Gohan addressed the bubbly blonde once more. "Let's get you to your rooms and then you can begin work and get better acquainted with one another" Gohan proposed. Both Erasa and Maria nodded their heads in sync and in agreement, the foursome then moved towards the left side of the room and to a singular door which housed a Capsule Corporation coded lock device installed onto the wall beside the door and a key card slot just beneath it for added measure.

"This is the private guest wing of the company. It's also leads to the Brief family's private quarters" Gohan explained gesturing to the locked door. "You'll each be given your own guest identification cards for the duration of your stay as well as a set of the door codes, the code changes every day" inserting his I.D into the slot, the numbered key pad emitted a green light allowing him to enter the series of digits that would unlock the door, the demi Saiyan then paused for a moment in an effort to remember the sequence of numbers that would be required for the day. After swiftly entering the five digit code, there was an audible *clunk* on the other side signalling that the locking mechanism had been deactivated, retrieving his key card Gohan walked through the door with his protégé's following closely behind. With the door now opened the three school students were now able to bear witness to the elusive 'private quarters' in question. They followed Gohan down a small hallway before arriving at large room that had a homey atmosphere in comparison to the more business like headquarters of the company, the furniture was more casual and quaint, preferring a more comfortable appeal rather than a professional environment. Along the left side of the wall was a series of doors, each with a number embedded onto the door face like one would find in the standard hotel hallways.

"This is the guest wing" Gohan informed. "It's a common practice for us to hold business meetings and conferences to introduce our newest line of products and gain business deals with other companies; this usually means we have to house those people who have to commute long distances and they will stay in these rooms" The boy finished, gesturing to the long line of doors. "And for the remainder of the month these will be your quarters. Luckily enough for you, there are no restrictions for you guys. You'll be able to use all the facilities we have here to suit your needs"

"Like what?" Videl asked interested at the prospect at using such advanced facilities.

"Well to name a few; you can use the indoor pool and spa, arcade and gaming room, the home cinema, and the new gym we have set up" Gohan replied, to which both Sharpener and Videl perked up at the word gym.

"You guys have a gym?" Sharpener asked enthusiastically. The blonde boy was somewhat reluctant at the beginning to stay at Capsule Corp, feeling that he would not be able to keep on with his weightlifting regime he was so dedicated to.

"Yeah it's brand new" Gohan stated. "We didn't see any need for having one for the guests, but considering that Vegeta and his son like to train in the other gym almost all day, we decided we didn't want our guests having to contend with them for gym equipment" _'or the fact that no human would be capable of working with Saiyan training equipment'_ the Son boy added in his mind and allowed a small smile to reach his lips, which didn't do unnoticed by a certain raven haired female.

"Why not?" Videl asked narrowing her eyes at the boy as soon as she saw him smile. Snapping from his inside joke, Gohan eyed his apprentice.

"Let's just say those two take their training _very_ seriously, and do _not_ like to share" he said with a chuckle at the thought of a certain Saiyan prince ever sharing from the goodness of his heart. In fact the boy could only recall him sharing food with Bulma on very few occasions and that was only because of Bulma pressuring him continuously to be a 'good husband' much to Vegeta's disgust and reluctance. Shaking his head of the irrelevant thoughts, Gohan turned his attention back to the task at hand; getting Erasa, Sharpener and Videl their rooms. Reaching into his back pocket, the boy revealed three room keys each numbered accordingly. "These are your room keys" He explained while handing one key to each teenager. "I'll let you get settled before we begin" he said before turning to Erasa and gesturing for her to enter her room so he could set down the supposedly heavy suit case that Gohan volunteered to carry for her.

Videl meanwhile was just approaching her room door with key in hand; inserting the key into its appropriate slot triggered the now familiar sound of locks being disengaged, allowing entry. Stepping inside the raven haired teen took a moment to carefully survey her surroundings taking in every small detail she could using her keen eye. The room was something that would be expected in a standard hotel room, everything was modern and crisp, obviously to suit the usual occupants that the rooms would accommodate who were people of business and finance. The floor was composed of a grey carpet and matched well with the cream walls, off to one side was a large queen sized double bed with a blue and white doona cover which matched the pillows on the bed. A large flat screen HD TV was located on the wall opposite to the bed, on her right was a clean, modern bathroom with all the basic necessities and her left side was home to a mid-sized clothes cupboard. Nodding her head in approval, Videl began the task of unpacking her belongings.

A few moments later, the teen's actions were brought to a halt when she heard a light knock on the door. "Videl its Gohan, can I come in?" a voice said from the other side immediately answering the question of who wanted to gain access.

"Yes, I'm coming" she answered as she made her way to the door, only to be stopped by the sound of Gohan somehow managing to unlock the door from the outside and gain entry. Judging by the confused look the girl gave; Gohan flashed his key card in front of her before responding.

"Part of being executive director and the god son of Bulma Briefs means I have an all access key that can open any locked door on the premises. Don't worry though; I won't be entering your room without your consent, unless it's an emergency." Nodding her head, Videl allowed a small part of herself to relax after Gohan assured her his reluctance to enter a room without her say so.

"Is everything to your liking?" the boy asked looking around the room to make sure nothing was out of place.

"Yes, everything's fine" Videl assured, nodding his head the boy gave his apprentice a knowing smile.

"Well if there is anything you need don't hesitate to ask. I was just telling your friends, we'll be starting work in about ten minutes, so you have enough time to get ready" The boy said with a grin. It was then that the Satan girl eyed her suitcase venomously as a certain blue dress came within her view; the girl couldn't even supress a small growl to escape her lips as she realized that she may have to accept the possibility of having to actually _wear_ it.

"Is there a dress code?" the girl asked her boss. Raising his eyebrow in confusion, Gohan watched the girl quizzically "Dress code?" he repeated in a tone implying he was asking a question. Allowing an audible sigh to pass her lips, Videl continued.

"For this job do I have to wear any specific clothes?" she specified now dreading the possible answer. Rubbing his chin thoughtfully Gohan pondered for a moment. His gaze turned back to the expectant form of Videl and he carefully examined her current choice of attire which consisted of a baggy white shirt and biker shorts, he couldn't help but also notice the look of pain on her face in regard to the question.

"There isn't really a dress code per say" he stated. "However Bulma thinks it's best for us to maintain some sense of professionalism, but that is only a concern for our full time employees. Looking at you now, I would recommend that you switch to some long pants, like jeans rather than shorts; I'll probably have to get you a lab coat as well, other than that I'd say you're good."

Videl instantly felt a wave of relief fall over her; luckily enough she had managed to evade having to wear the dress for another day. "If there's nothing else I'll let you get ready. Meet me outside in a few minutes" The demi saiyan requested before turning on his heels and disappearing through the doorway making sure to close it behind him. Videl then took the opportunity to breathe after realizing she had been holding her breath out of a small amount of anxiety during her interaction with her future boss. Once she had managed to calm herself to the point of being her usual confident and self-assured self, Videl tried to seek out an appropriate pair of long pants, which wasn't difficult considering how lightly the Satan girl packed. After quickly examining the item in her hand, a standard pair of blue jeans, the girl nodded her head feeling the clothing piece of choice met her approval.

8:30 am: With the small group now fully united once again, Gohan lead the apprentices back towards the very same science wing that was included in the lengthy tour from the day prior. It was there that the four were met by the receptionist Maria who awaited their presence, in her hand was a clipboard and her face was home to her normal prepared smile. After acknowledging the presence of her superior, Gohan, who responded with a polite nod, the girl turned her attention back to Erasa and carefully inspected the girl's outfit of choice. The blonde girl was wearing a grey undershirt with a small white blazer over top which was coupled with a grey skirt and high heels to complete the image, Maria gave the girl a knowing smile, happy to see that the teenager was dressed appropriately to maintain the sense of professionalism that was expected at Capsule Corporation.

"Erasa I'm going to hand you over to the capable hands of Maria, she will be teaching you everything you need to know about your position and what will be expected of you" Gohan explained.

"I can't wait!" Erasa cheered happily, the excitement in her voice was very evident which made both Gohan and Maria nod in approval at the girl's keenness to experience this new program. The tall demi saiyan then gestured for Maria to begin her work. "Right so first I'll show you our timetable" Maria said to Erasa, just as Gohan began to lead the remaining duo towards the testing facilities in the backroom, where they were greeted in the front room of the wing by two men, one looked to be in his mid-thirties and was almost as tall as Gohan with broad shoulders and the other the polar opposite, an elderly man of about late fifties to early sixties with very little hair on his head, short in stature and overall a very senile and fragile looking human.

"Sharpener I would like to introduce you to Paul Baton" he said gesturing to the tall man "and Dr Spencer Bones" now gesturing towards the elderly man who responded with a smile and polite bow, to which Sharpener, remembering he was in the presence of some of the greatest minds and talents, decided to greet both in a similar fashion. "Paul Baton is the leading adviser and director of our testing facilities, you will be working with him for the duration of the program, it is his task to watch over you and keep you alive" Gohan explained with a smirk.

"Or at least in one piece" Paul added with a laugh that bore a resemblance to a certain self-proclaimed 'saviour' of the world. Rolling his eyes at the joke that Paul would use on a regular basis, Gohan turned towards Spencer.

"And Spencer is the doctor of this area, he will be testing your physical fitness and durability to make sure you are up for the rigorous field work you will have to endure" this explanation had the blonde jock slightly nervous, though his upper body strength far exceeded his school peers, his speed and stamina was somewhat lacking. Luckily though Spencer noticed the boy's anxious demeanour and gave the boy a chuckle and smile

"Don't worry too much my boy. It's a standard test to merely make sure you're healthy. And judging by your stature I'd say it shouldn't be too much of an effort, who knows you might be able to give Gohan a run for his money" Spencer said now eyeing the Son boy comically, who just chuckled "doubtful" Gohan countered making both Paul and Spencer chuckle and leaving Videl and Sharpener in a state of confusion. "Anyway" The demi Saiyan said once his colleagues had settled "I'll leave it to you guys" giving the raven haired girl a tug on the arm to follow him, Gohan bid a farewell and good luck to Sharpener as he was to embark on this new and unfamiliar world of science.

With two of the trio now accounted for, Gohan's full and undivided attention turned to the last remaining student of the group, his underling and protégé, Videl. It was then that sudden realization hit the boy, reminding him of his mental schedule which involved him fixing the gravity room for Vegeta like he promised, and if Gohan had even an ounce of common sense he knew it was unwise to go against a promise with Vegeta, even if you're a super saiyan or not. So with lack of a better option Gohan knew it was in his best interest to make the repairs of the gravity room his top priority, which meant that Gohan would have to introduce Videl to practical work straight away, but first and foremost he needed to get her prepped for field work. Leading the girl to a storage room within the science wing, Gohan retrieved a white lab coat and key card that read 'temporary junior executive director' to inform other employees of the teenager's position. He then waited for the girl to put on the lab coat for the very first time; to him it was something of an initiation into Capsule Corp.

"Is the length alright?" Gohan asked the girl, chuckling at the fact that despite wearing the smallest size they had, the coat was still slightly too long for the girls arms, meaning she would have to roll up her sleeves. Sensing the boy's joking tone, Videl cracked a half smile at the boy as he clearly showed signs of amusement at her height issues, this didn't seem to faze the girl, she had lived almost her entire life as the short girl, but that didn't matter as she demonstrated on numerous occasions that size simply did not matter in a fight when you are Videl Satan. Ignoring the boy's joke, Videl replied to Gohan's question.

"I think you know" she answered dryly but also somewhat jokingly "Not that it bothers me" she finished, to which Gohan allowed his eyes to scan her from top to bottom, still unable to wipe the amusement from his face as he continued.

"Too bad, we don't carry coats for people under five foot two" he claimed before bursting into laughter. Videl just remained silent, rolling her eyes at the laughter Gohan emitted at his own joke.

"Anyway" Gohan began, mentally willing himself to let go of his joking nature and get down to business. "I was going to start with a more in depth discussion about my line of work, however it would seem we don't have time for that and will have to jump straight into the practical work, is that alright with you?"

"No problem with that" Videl replied with confidence that came naturally to someone of the Satan bloodline (Or perhaps just Videl), this made Gohan crack a smile at the determination that Videl had in her abilities and confidence she possessed. "Good, then follow me" Gohan instructed before heading away from the science wing and leading the girl once again back towards the guest wing of the building. From there the two walked down a long hallway before ending up at the tightly secured steel door that looked unnecessarily big, outside the door sat a large tool box which contained a set of complicated looking tools, each branded with the official Capsule Corp logo. Gohan then took a moment to assess said tool box in order to identify each repair item that would be necessary for the complicated task at hand, with each item on his list accounted for, the tall teen turned towards his student.

"This here is one of, if not the most secure room in the entire complex" Gohan explained as he carefully began the lengthy process of inputting a worded code, numbered code and hand print identification on a panel mounted to the wall, the entire ordeal made Videl raise an eyebrow in confusion at what was so special about this room. Inserting his key into the slot, Gohan took hold of the door before turning to Videl once more. "I present to you…" he said building tension as he forced the heavy door open "The gravity room" the door then slowly opened to reveal…

' _Nothing?'_ Videl mentally claimed/asked. What now stood before her for her eyes to gaze upon was a room full of absolute emptiness, a large tiled dome, with nothing to fill the empty space that it held. The girl allowed a frown to approach her face before turning to Gohan expecting this to be a poor excuse of a joke on his part; and as expected she was met with a pair of eyes that held a joking nature, but not for the reason she was thought.

"You were expecting something else" he said filling in the gaps for her. Videl however regarded the boy's semi joking statement for a moment before analysing the room once more and still finding it was home to nothing. "Was I wrong to assume such a thing?" she asked the boy in confusion.

"No" Gohan replied before walking inside with Videl in tow. "You may feel that this room is a waste of space and for no reason does it require such a complex security system. But I guarantee you, you will quickly retract that once you find out what this room is truly capable of" with that the boy spread his arms around gesturing to the entire dome itself. He then paused for a moment to allow Videl time to give the boy a questioning stare. "Like I said, this is the gravity room, or G.R for short, it is _literally_ capable of manipulating the gravity of earth" the boy explained to which Videl's eyes widened in shock at this incredible piece of information.

"So you can turn gravity to zero within this room?" she asked incredulously. However the boy shook his head and continued his explanation of the marvelous qualities that this room possessed.

"While it _is_ capable of turning earth's gravity to nought, we have found a far more effective use for such an invention, in this room we can increase the force of gravity to specified amounts"

"Why would you want to do that?" she asked the boy, gauging his voice and facial features to determine whether or not he was simply toying with her or being dead serious; to her surprise, the boy demonstrated no signs of being dishonest.

"Training" The demi saiyan explained with a single word. "Only a few people in the world have access to this room, and those who do use it to train their body to their absolute limits. Intensifying gravity makes all the muscles in the body work under the strain, meaning it can increase a person's speed, stamina and strength all in one, perfect for martial arts training"

There it was the two words that could gain Videl's attention faster than the mind was even capable of comprehending. "Martial arts?" she asked for confirmation as well as a deeper understanding about so called 'training' that the room could be utilized for.

"Vegeta and his son Trunks use this room all the time to train…" the boy however was instantly interrupted by a very curious Videl.

"Have you ever used it?" she wanted to gain some form of information regarding Gohan's martial arts abilities that he claimed to have possessed since he was a child. "I use it from time to time, not as regularly as Vegeta, but enough to hone by skills" this made Videl's mind move at a million kilometres a minute, trying to process every piece of information and every conceivable outcome of the room's supposed function.

"How high can the gravity go?" she asked out of interest, leaving Gohan to rub his chin thoughtfully as if the answer wasn't entirely obvious, after a few more moments to boy gave his answer in the form of a slight shrug.

"From memory, I believe the highest level we were able to achieve was somewhere in the vicinity of… fifteen hundred times earth's gravity" he said nonchalantly, making his student almost leap back in surprise at such a daunting series of numbers which made her head spin. "One thousand five hundred!" she exclaimed out of shock "But… No one of earth could possibly survive that!"

"You're right about that" Gohan chuckled at the memory; it was around a year ago when him and Vegeta wished to test how far their bodies were capable of pushing themselves, which turned out to be a rather foolish idea. Even at maximum power, both of the Saiyans were unable to even move when the panel read 1300 G, and by the time they had reached the numbers of 1500 G, the two collapsed from exhaustion and were left with a number of broken bones, as well as severe bruising.

Technically the girl was correct on her statement, fortunately enough the Saiyan race was not born to planet earth, and as such did not come under the same category as the average earthling. "Trust me though, no one is allowed within the room if they are incapable of withstanding its force" the boy explained, taking extreme care to leave both himself and Vegeta out of the equation. However in Videl's mind there was a question that still lingered, one that was eminent.

"Why keep it sealed though? Surely people would pay big money to have such equipment" she reasoned. However before she even managed to finish her sentence, Gohan was already shaking his head.

"Firstly, the room is simply _too_ dangerous, only those with great endurance and strength are able to withstand the applied force of the gravity, in fact a majority of the world's population would struggle at even times two gravity. Secondly it takes _way_ too much time and money to replicate this piece of design, in fact we would have to charge millions upon millions of dollars to even generate a profit, and frankly it's not worth the energy. Thirdly, the Brief family only designed it for personal use, and for friends and family. And most seriously of all, this room is kept a secret to negate people from all over the world trying to seek it out, its technology is incredibly dangerous and as such we prefer it best kept as a secret. We have even gone as far as to have our employee's sign a form promising that they will keep this room's contents a secret from the public" the boy explained, abandoning his joking and professional nature and replacing it with an unusually serious demeanour.

"And I know this may seem unnecessary, but I am obligated to have you swear to a strict code of secrecy in regards to this room" the boy said, his stone hard gaze now set directly into the blue eyes of the Satan girl who was feeling increasingly uncomfortable in such a serious and dangerous situation. "I don't need to worry about Erasa and Sharpener as neither will be enlightened in regards to this room. However I do need you to give me your word that under no circumstances will you let any information regarding what you see here get out" Gohan ordered in a commanding tone that simply did not suit the Son boy. The tension in the air was palpable for a few moments; Videl slowly began nodding her head, before uttering the phrase that was asked of her.

"I promise to keep this room a secret, from _everyone_ " the girl said with about as much confidence as her strong nature could allow.

Almost instantly the hard and serious gaze of Gohan swiftly switched to one of approval and satisfaction. "Excellent" the boy said with a smirk before turning his attention back towards the tool box that sat on the floor in front of him. "Now, as an Executive Director you would expect me to sit behind a desk all day calculating numbers and statistics, however, I don't mind getting my hands dirty" the boy said jokingly as he pulled three separate tools from his kit. "As a result you will be expected to follow my lead and work alongside me" Videl nodded her understanding as the boy presented her with the tools for her to closely examine. "I already assessed the damaged last night, there's an electrical malfunction in the gravity systems mainframe, shouldn't take too long to fix" the boy then gestured towards a small panel that was located on the wall, he then brought the tools over the panel in question with Videl standing beside him.

Taking hold of a mechanical screwdriver, Gohan proceeded to make short work of the four screws that held the panel in place, while in the act Gohan proceeded to give his explanation with Videl watching on soaking up the information as best she could. "The walls are lined with an especially strong alloy that can withstand intense pressure" Gohan explained. _'As well as the brute force of a full powered Saiyan'_ the Capsule Corp employee added in his head. With all four screws now out of the place, the boy held one of the at eye level, closely examining its construct "Every small detail is accurately designed to function properly in such an intense environment. There is no doubt that Doctor Brief is a true genius" the admiration in his voice clearly evident, making Videl smile at how impressed the Son boy was at the accomplishments of Mr. Brief.

Now that the panel was no longer anchored to the wall, Gohan pried the tech from its place to reveal a large, complicated array of wires that lay in the now exposed hole in the wall. "The entire dome is lined with fast, sophisticated fibre optics and wires, each work in unison, however if one fails, then the rest will follow" the boy said, now shining a small flashlight into the area, before handing the object to Videl. "Could you please hold this" he asked of Videl, to which she obliged to his request. "As much as I'd like to let you take over, I don't think having you put into a coma via electric shock is the best way to start your program" making Videl give a slight chuckle in amusement. Now reaching into the weaving jungle of leads and cables, Gohan carefully began disconnecting wires before pulling a single item from the wall. Upon closer inspection, Videl was able to identify the foreign object as some kind of complicated computer chip or motherboard, only this one was singed around the edges as if it had been subjected to a fire.

"And this is the culprit" Gohan said matter-of-factly while shaking his head in amusement at the content of his hand.

"What happened to it?" Videl asked curious as to _how_ such an important piece of equipment could be forced into such a state. The answer she got was a chuckle that Gohan allowed to pass through his lips.

"It seems Vegeta has been pushing the old girl a bit too far… Again" the director claimed while examining the broken piece of hardware closely. "It's completely shot" he explained mostly to himself "I'm going to have to install a new one" with that Gohan produced a brand new circuit board that had just been constructed for such an eventuality, one that he retrieved from the storage room earlier in the day. After making sure that the circuit board was in a functional state, Gohan uncovered his soldering kit and began the delicate process of connecting each wire and lead to its allocated position on the board, taking constant care to not get himself tangled in the wires, lest he break yet another important, delicate piece of circuitry.

Videl meanwhile watched the entire scene in awe at the efficiency that her superior was able to work with, and before she even knew it the boy had retracted his hand from its original position and placed his tools on the ground.

"All done" Gohan claimed as he made sure to insert the screws back to where they once sat. With the panel now back into place, it began to flash the number '1 G' on the screen, signalling that the process had gotten the computer back in action. "With that finally done, it's time we test this thing, you want to try?" Gohan asked. In hindsight that probably was not the best of ideas, with Videl inside the Gravity chamber Gohan would now be unable to testing the higher levels of gravity unless he simply wished to seriously injure his student. Her face immediately lit up at the opportunity at using this amazing piece of design.

"Absolutely!" she affirmed with great enthusiasm. After quickly moving all the equipment to the outside of the door, Gohan stripped himself of his white lab coat and instructed for Videl to follow suit for this small field test, with that done, Gohan walked over the wall mounted panel and asked Videl to join him.

"I'm going to turn the gravity to twice its usual force" Gohan explained, making Videl snort in amusement.

"Only two?" the girl said feigning the feeling of being insulted "I'm pretty sure I can handle a little more than that" the confidence was the only tone the girl employed for her claim, this however only made Gohan shake his head.

"Contrary to what you might think, times two gravity will be a heavy burden on your body, especially because you have no previous experience in using this equipment" Gohan explained trying to the let the girl down gently. "If you can handle it without trouble we'll up the ante" the boy reasoned, "Now lay on the ground and take a sharp intake of breath, when the gravity is activated all you have to do is try and stand, make sense?"

Allowing a sigh of reluctance to leave her mouth, Videl found herself a comfortable spot on the ground and awaited further instruction, however all she got was a countdown from the number three, signifying when the added force was about to become apparent. Once the count reached zero there was an audible clicking noise before all the air in Videl's lungs was quickly forced out. Her arms, legs and entire diaphragm was pinned directly to the floor, making Videl grunt in the slight pain she felt at the unexpected jolt of increased force. "The gravity is activated, now try to stand up" came the voice of Gohan, who Videl could tell was still towering above her. It was almost unbelievable, inconceivable, the Satan girl tried to force her body to push herself up from the tiled floor, only with each attempted muscle movement her arms, shoulders and legs gave way and left her back at square one. Growling in frustration the girl was growing impatient and angered with each failed attempt. Gohan watched the whole time with some interest, while he was there to teach the girl about business, he couldn't but help but note her form in strength. ' _She's not too bad'_ he said to himself as she did half a push up before collapsing once more. _'She has determination but lacks patience, I guess Vegeta was right, she does need to control her temper'_ he reminded himself of the conversation the foursome had with Vegeta the day before. Feeling he had seen enough, Gohan approached the downed girl offering her his hand.

"Need some help?" he suggested as he took hold of the girls wrist. In any normal circumstances the raven haired girl would have slapped the boys hand away with conviction, but with all of her strength sapped she simply did not have it in her to refuse, and she was quite surprised when she was pulled straight to her feet by Gohan's iron grip as if she weighed as much as Erasa's suitcase earlier in the day. With the girl now standing with the assistance of Gohan's brute strength, Gohan himself directed his gaze to the girls face.

"Want me to turn it off?" he asked, however the girl shook her head almost instantly.

"No, I can do this" she insisted, though her tone implied otherwise, it was worn and raspy from her previous failed attempts at standing. Gohan meanwhile still held onto the girl's wrist, not wanting to have a serious injury on day one

"How about you try walking" Gohan suggested as he loosened his grip allowing her some freedom to attempt a single step.

However almost instantly Videl felt herself beginning to fall and reached to grab hold of the nearest object, which happened to land on the solid left arm of Gohan. With her hold like a vice now gripping the left bicep of Gohan, Videl could clearly feel the rock-hard, muscled biceps that were covered by the long sleeved shirt that he wore, but there was no denying the face that Gohan clearly _did_ have something to hide underneath all those layers. It was also then that Videl noted the way Gohan had rolled up his long sleeve so it reached up to his elbow, exposing the boys left arm and yet another small gem that was hidden under his layers of clothing items, On his lower arm lay an oddly gruesome looking scar, one that ran incredibly deep making Videl's eyes widen in shock at the revelation that this scar looked to be permanent. Videl herself had battle wounds of her own, some small ones which she knew she would have to live with, and she could tell a permanent scar from a kilometre away. But most importantly was the fact that Videl herself was literally hanging off the demi saiyans arm and he didn't even so much as budge at the extra weight which was combined with his own in the increased gravity. Sensing the girl was now struggling to stay upright Gohan addressed Videl again

"I think you've had enough" he boldly stated, aware that Videl was determined to prove her strength, but at the risk of injuring herself, it just wasn't an even trade off.

Reaching the panel with his right arm Gohan deactivated the gravity intensity, taking pity on the exhausted teen, making said girl sigh in relief as the burden that was once sitting on her shoulders was now immediately lifted, granting her the wonderful gift of being capable of muscle movement without pain. As the females grip on his arm loosened, Gohan carefully allowed her to move from her upright to a sitting position. "Just breathe" Gohan instructed "Your body isn't used to the stress, I must say though, I'm impressed"

The only audible sound that Videl mustered was an audible scoff. "Don't patronize me" she snapped. However Gohan only chuckled at the fiery attitude and determined persona Videl acted with.

"I'm not patronizing you" Gohan assured "Most people our age wouldn't last even half a minute at that level" _'human teenagers that is'_ he said reminding himself of the Saiyan-Human power difference. Videl then allowed herself a small moment to pause as she noted the sincerity in her bosses tone, it wasn't one of dishonesty nor was it sarcasm, it was honest and truthful. Sighing, Videl forced her head to look at the ground.

"How do you make it seem so _easy_ " she wondered, making a small laughter emit from the tall frame of Gohan.

"Years of practice" he answered with a broad smile plastered on his face. "Why don't we take a small break and then get back to work?" the boy suggested as he retrieved both his and his apprentices lab coat. "We still have a long way to go"

* * *

 **\- AUS Wild Thing**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

" **We still have a long way to go"**

Gohan stated as he retrieved the lab coat of his protege, with the white material in hand, Gohan approached his downed assistant and held his hand outwards, inviting the teen to take it as help to get back to her feet. Reluctantly the girl accepted this sign of assistance, after all she was as stubborn as they came, and outside help to her was a sign of weakness. However she knew had no reason to give her boss the cold shoulder, unless of course she wanted to make things between one another antagonistic.

Once again she was surprised by how easily Gohan managed to pull her entire body weight to its feet. She was then met with her white lab coat being presented in front of her which she took and proceeded to put on as Gohan began packing away the tools he had previously used as a means to repair the damaged Capsule Corp invention.

"Ready?" Gohan asked expectantly, while also allowing traces of his ever perfect smile to find its way onto his features.

"You bet" Videl responded gladly, excited at what surprises the remainder of this course would have in store for her. After all, if the Gravity Room was any indication, Capsule Corporation housed many unexpected surprises.

The two then made way for the G.R exit and found their way back into the long hallway. Before leaving, however, Gohan made sure to lock the sophisticated door back the way it was prior to entering. With that done he proceeded to walk back towards the inventing wing and motioned for Videl to follow.

"What's next?" Videl questioned.

"Well considering that you seem eager enough to jump straight into practical work, I say we skip the whole 'introduction' portion and get to serious business" The demi Saiyan responded eagerly, making Videl give him a trivial look.

"Introduction?" She wondered.

Without breaking stride Gohan began his explanation. "It's more or less a requirement that we are supposed to do with new employees. We talk you through all aspects of your work space and what is to be expected of you. Problem is; this is a tiresome process. And frankly I don't think I have to sit you down for two hours to have you understand that you shouldn't be touching nuclear acid or acting without my approval. Or do you want me to go through it?"

Instantly Videl's face grew to one of agreement. "No, that's fine" she quickly responded.

"Good" The tall teen said with a smile and also a sigh of relief. "Just make sure you don't tell Bulma about this, she may seem laid back, but when it comes to this company she is all business and expects us to follow _all_ her instruction. And if she found out I was actually skipping her famed 'introduction' she'd be fairly upset."

With that settled, the mentor and his protege walked down the hall towards a storage room, containing shelves filled to the brim with all manner of tools, alloys and other assortments of materials used for crafting the next idea that would find it's way into Gohan's brilliant mind. Taking the toolbox he had previously used to fix the gravity room, Gohan placed it back in its appropriate place on the shelf.

"Do you enjoy working here?" Videl questioned as her gaze crossed over all the advanced and sophisticated looking materials. It was almost inconceivable that someone who is the same age as Videl could not only understand, but operate everything in Capsule Corp with as much confidence as Bulma Brief herself. But it did leave the question, Gohan was after all still a teenager like herself, and he clearly stated the day before that he had turned to working here for no reason other than to support his family through the emotional loss of his father.

Gohan looked back to the girl, somewhat surprised. Not by the question, but by the tone she used. It wasn't one used in a casual conversation, but one that indicated she was truly curious, that she perhaps felt unsure of what his response may actually be.

"It's high pace work" Gohan responded with a grin. "I enjoy working here, Bulma has been nothing but supportive of my work, and if the success of Capsule Corporation over the past two years is any indication, I make a fine addition to the team" walking out of the storage room the two followed the path down the hallway once more, this time making their way to another wing of the building. "Had the circumstances that landed me here been different, I probably would never have considered a future with Capsule Corp to be honest"

"Oh?" Videl, now intrigued, picked up her walking speed slightly to keep up with the long strides of Gohan.

"As I said, due to my fathers passing I really didn't have many options. My mother always pushed for me to be a scholar or a doctor from a very young age. Being a scientist and inventor wasn't ranked very high on her list. I spent my childhood glued to books that would lead me down one of those paths, but that all changed." The demi Saiyan then paused, looking ahead in concentration. No doubt thinking about how the tragic death of his father had such a direct influence on his life even today.

"But it's like they say. Everything happens for a reason right?" Gohan stated with with a broad smile. "If I could do it all over again, I would change nothing"

Videl continued to take in all the information Gohan was dishing her way, carefully breaking down every sentence, gesture and facial expression to gain a clearer picture, as she was famed for during her police work.

"But enough of that" Gohan said, smiling brightly as the two rounded a corner. "I'd say it's time we get to the real work. I didn't make my mark on this company by fixing broken inventions all day" Taking out his key card, Gohan swiped the object against a card slot located beside a large door. Carefully opening the door, Videl was exposed to her first glimpse of what would be her life for the next month.

"I… Wow" Videl barely managed to get out before she was overcome with disbelief and awe. The room exposed to her was, to put it lightly, an absolute nerd fest.

"Welcome to my work station" Gohan claimed, looking around the room and nodding in satisfaction. It was the place where he felt most at home within the CC grounds. "This is where we will be working on all the shiny new Capsule Corp toys."

Videl could barely contain herself, the room was simply full of blueprints, unfinished inventions, complicated looking plans and sketches. Whiteboards filled with algorithms, thick books, electronics sat upon work benches and various other materials one would need to craft such fine inventions for a company like this.

"This is your work station?" The raven haired girl asked slowly, taking in the enormity of what she had gotten herself into.

"Pretty neat huh?" Gohan chuckled at her reaction.

"That's right, everything you see here is the property of Son Gohan." Came a feminine voice from the doorway. "It would be a crime for me to allow this one to work in a cramped station with the other employees"

"Oh, hey Bulma" Gohan greeted his boss. "I just got back from making repairs in the Gravity Room. Seems Vegeta pushed it a bit past its limits again" Bulma just rolled her eyes, this was hardly the revelation of the century.

"I take it the room is back in working order" The blue haired woman stated.

"It was a simple fix, nothing we couldn't handle" The tall teen said happily, while looking over to Videl. "But I think it may be high time for an upgrade. Vegeta has essentially maxed the capabilities of the GR. The longer we leave it and just fix it when it breaks, the more frequently repairs are going to be needed. We may need more power, to generate a higher output, I estimate even now Vegeta will only get about a weeks worth of training out of it before the inevitable" Bulma allowed a large sigh to pass through her lips and nodded her head in reluctant agreement.

"I appreciate the assistance Gohan" Bulma thanked before continuing. "It's good to at least have some peace and quiet, sometimes I swear that man can be so high maintenance, I guess he lives up to the reputation of a spoiled prince" that little stab at Vegeta's royal heritage made Gohan chuckle lightly. "I'll talk to dad about it and see what we can do about the power output. For now, would you mind keeping the royal prick out of my hair, just until I am done with the engineering explosion fiasco. I swear, they like to detonate things on purpose just to get me riled up"

"No problem boss, I already said I would keep him company tonight. I'll make sure you're not disturbed" Gohan finished with a wink.

"You're a life saver Gohan. What would I do without you?" Bulma stated, with a smile on her face.

"Watch your newest inventions go up in flames at the hands of some of the pyromaniacs we have around here" Came the response of Gohan.

"Indeed" Bulma said. "Anyway, I just came to check in on our newest additions to the Capsule Corp crew. How are you fitting in?" Bulma asked directing her attention over to Videl who perked up after being addressed by Bulma Brief.

Videl was so invested at the conversation happening before, taking in all the information and storing it for later thought, that she barely had time to come up with a reasonable response without looking like someone who was in way over their head.

"Oh… Uh, very good" Videl said hesitantly. "It would seem my mentor knows his stuff" a compliment which made Gohan smile with a traditional son grin.

"Well I hope so, that's what I'm paying him for" Bulma stated, eyeing Gohan critically in a joking nature. "But that's good to hear. It would seem all three of you are settling in nicely. That Erasa girl out the front is really something, she seems to be taking it all in her stride."

"I'm not surprised" Videl chuckled. "She has always been a bubbly, people person. And Sharpener?"

"Not the brightest bulb. But he seems capable enough, anyone who can crash face first into a steel wall from a hover board accident and walk away with only a bruise on their forehead is welcome in the testing zone, means we don't have to fill out any injury forms." Videl merely rolled her eyes, obviously Sharpener making an arse of himself was nothing new.

"They're testing the new hover boards already?" Gohan questioned with some interest.

"It was only supposed to be light testing. It was supposed to make sure it actually hovers, not if they move. It seems the thrust mechanism needs some tinkering. I'll send it to our guys upstairs and see what the verdict is. They may send it back down here and have a look at the original plans, so keep an ear out." Bulma answered which received a nod from Gohan in understanding. "In any case I best get going. I hope you make the most of what you learn here Videl, I'll see you two around."

"Thanks Bulma" Gohan called to his god mother as her retreating form exited the room. With the sound of the door being the last remaining noise of Bulma' visit, Gohan turned his attention to Videl, offering her a small grin.

"Well looks like it's time to get to it" The enthusiasm in the tall boys voice was extremely apparent. "I think we best start with we've got going on around here at the moment. As you can probably see we have a lot on our plates" Gohan stated, gesturing to the entire room, most specifically to where the table tops surrounding the room were home to inventions laying in varying stages of completion.

"What is all this stuff?" Videl asked, lightly laughing at how messy and cluttered the room was.

"These are all inventions that I have either created, or have been sent to me for improvement." Gohan answered, leading his apprentice over to a large table located in the corner of the room. "The run down of how we do things is that either I design and build my own inventions in this room. Or the crew down the hall reports to me with a new project which, if they meet my approval, is moved on to be built. From there we put our early inventions through their paces in the testing wing, they report any issues or parts that need improvement. This back and forth goes on until we can find a final product that is suitable to put on the market."

Gesturing Videl to follow closely, Gohan carefully picked up a small capsule and eyed it. "But sometimes there is only so much unsuccessful testing that can be done before we pull the plug on an idea. Take this one for example" Gohan then handed the capsule to Videl, who looked at him with a trivial glance, obviously unsure of how she should proceed.

"Open it." Gohan instructed.

Looking down to her hand, Videl simply shrugged, still unsure of what this little Capsule was supposed to be capable of. A small cloud of dust escaped the capsule, and once it had settled, a lone bottle of brown water sat sitting on the lab floor. Videl, now even more dumbfounded, looked to Gohan, expecting him to be laughing as if it was some kind of joke, but the boy simply held the same expression he had earlier.

"What is this?" Videl asked, taking hold of the bottle of water and inspecting the liquid it contained closer. "It looks like dirt water"

"Correct" Gohan answered smiling.

"And you meant to put it in that capsule?" Videl questioned, eyeing Gohan suspiciously.

"Yes"

"For a specific reason?"

"Yes"

"Is it supposed to do something?"

"Yes"

"Are you going to tell me what that would be?"

"Maybe" Gohan stated, with a laugh. "You can rest easy, I'm not messing with you on this one. What you hold in your hand is exactly what you first thought. That water is filled with mud, parasites and who knows what else. It was taken from a river not too far from this building."

"But why?" Videl asked, now getting somewhat impatient. "What is the point of having this?"

"It's not the bottle that's the focus" Gohan stated. "It's the capsule. The water in that bottle is pretty much undrinkable to all humans. But what if there was a way to purify even the most unclean water without any effort at all?"

"Then it would probably save many lives… Like someone lost in the wilderness without any clean drinking water or people in third world countries without access" Videl added, now curious as to where all this was leading.

"That is exactly right. That capsule was designed to be able to instantaneously purify water when any manner of liquid was to be placed inside it." The boy explained, taking the remnants of the capsule which laid on the floor and holding it out for Videl to examine closely.

"That's amazing" Videl exclaimed in awe of such a piece of design.

"It would have been" Gohan trailed off. "But as you can see, that water is no cleaner than what you would find in the river. We have been working endlessly trying to get some sort of result. But right now we are no closer to a solution than when we started, we simply do not have the resources to pull of such a thing. So regrettably, the water purifier capsule has been pulled from all planning and testing, until we make another leap in technology that is, but who knows when that will come." Placing the water bottle back into the small device and leaving it on the work bench, Gohan and Videl moved forward.

"That's a real shame, I mean, it's such a great idea" Videl stated, somewhat deflated that a revolutionary gadget such as that would be reduced to gathering dust on a shelf.

"I appreciate it." Gohan said, sincerity clearly written all over his face as her rewarded Videl with a genuine smile, which Videl returned. "Now what's say we move on to something that may hit the market shortly"

Strolling over to a cabinet a large chest sat on a shelf, Gohan retrieved the locked box and placed it carefully on a nearby table. "This is something that Bulma wanted me to put together for her. It's rare for her to ever have any requests or input in my designs, but when she does it is usually of the utmost importance" Taking a key around his belt, the boy unlocked the chest and lifted the top.

Videl held her breath in anticipation, if Bulma Brief of all people had specifically called upon Gohan to make to make something, it must be a fairly remarkable item.

The top of the box then opened to reveal some rather confusing and odd looking contraptions. What sat in the box were four foreign objects. They looked almost like half of an headset. But there was also a transparent material that curved around and was a rectangular shape. Each different variation had a different coloured material. One was red, green, blue and purple.

"What are they?" Videl now extremely confused as well as intrigued by what she was looking at.

Gohan, instead of explaining took one from the box and positioned it on his ear, the transparent material was now in front of his left eye, while the other part sat comfortably over his left ear to hold the object in place. It was then that Videl noted there was a red button positioned where Gohan's ear was.

The tall teen then pushed the button, and the object made a distinct beeping noise, possibly signalling it was now functional.

"These are Bulma's pet project, turned over to me for further bodging. They are the new line of hands free electronic devices. We call them the Capsule Corp Scouters" Gohan informed with a large grin.

"Scouters?" Videl asked puzzled.

"Give it a try" Gohan urged as he then took the purple scouter from the chest and placed it over Videl's left ear as he had done earlier. "Now just push the button beside your head"

Cautiously doing as she was instructed, Videl lightly pressed the button and was caught off guard. Immediately the device came to life, displaying various symbols on the screen located in her vision. It looked exactly like something someone would see on a phone screen.

"Wow" The girl exclaimed in awe of what was literally happening before her eyes.

"Like it huh?" Gohan said, watching pleased at the girls reaction to this new device. "The Scouters are a new device all together, using new technology we devised ourselves. Think of the Scouter as a phone, computer and camera all combined. It also has many other different uses like an in built compass, zoom function among many other uses"

"This is unbelievable. How did you make this?" Videl asked, it was almost impossible to comprehend that such a technological feat had been achieved.

"Well like I said, Bulma came to me with the idea, we worked on plans and eventually came up with the basic functions and design. But let me tell you, there was a lot of time spent on those. I've actually been working on and off on the Scouters since I started here, it's taken us that long to get a finished product" Gohan answered swiftly.

While this was partially true, there were parts of the story Gohan chose not to mention. The original idea came from the original Scouter that Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz had used when they invaded earth almost fourteen years prior. Bulma had been so fascinated by the design and chose to use the technology she had found to attempt to recreate the scouter. She had managed to convince Vegeta to seek out any members of the Frieza force that still roamed the galaxy and retrieve as many scouters as he could, as it was reasonable to assume they still relied heavily on such technology, much to Vegeta's delight he was allowed to do so by any means necessary, including using physical retaliation. With hundreds of Scouters at her disposal Bulma would learn the ins and outs of these devices and chose to build her own but this time with needs that a normal person could use, rather than to read power levels. Once Gohan had started working at Capsule Corporation she decided to include him on her work, as he was aware of the Scouters original functions and could be of great assistance.

"But these are just scratching the surface" Gohan states as he placed his scouter back into it's appropriate place. Videl, in kind followed suit as she watched her mentor. "In order for you to fully understand your role I am going to have to get you up to speed with what we are dealing with."

The next few hours went by with Gohan introducing the young crime fighter to the mystical and advanced world that is Capsule Corporation. The main portion of said time was Gohan explaining what the new line of products were capable of, and what leaps he hoped to achieve in the foreseeable future. Overall, Videl struggled to keep up with it all, before she could wrap her mind around the newest line of hover cars, Gohan was already excitedly talking about his idea for a revolutionary and ambitious capsule capable of lasting even the most devastating of damages.

Eventually, much to the raven haired girls relief, Gohan's lengthy one sided discussion then took a slight deviation when Gohan checked his watch and seemed to be in deep thought for a moment.

"Whoops, looks like we will have to pick this up a bit later" The boy laughed, scratching the back of his head in true Son family fashion. "I forgot about something I have to… I mean we will have to attend upstairs." Gohan then flashed a toothy smile as he now included Videl in his duties.

"And what's that?" Videl asked now interested.

"You'll see, though I suspect it may be something you will enjoy" The tall boys smile now ever present as he seemed convinced without a shadow of a doubt that what he said was true. "No sense in keeping them waiting. They've been looking forward to this for some time, and if I'm honest, so have I."

Videl almost allowed a small giggle to escape her lips at the sight of Gohan's almost child like innocence and excitement. It seemed so out of place, for someone with such a senior role to be so laid back and care free.

As her boss for the month began packing away all his inventions, Videl noticed out of the corner of her eye a black, secure door in the corner of the room. Beside the door read a large sign. "Do not enter, authorised personal only" And to complete the image, there was a key card slight and key pad mounted on the wall.

"What's through there?" Videl questioned as she edged closer to it to try and get a better view.

Immediately, unbeknownst to Videl who's attention was solely focused on the door, Gohan snapped his head up in lightning quick speeds, almost dropping the items in his hands directly to the floor.

"Oh, that's nothing" The boy stated, putting on his usual professional tone.

"Doesn't look like nothing to me" The girl said now turning her head back to Gohan and barely resisting the urge to narrow her eyes like she normally would around her school peers or petty crooks. But she had made a conscious effort to tone that kind of behaviour down in the presence of her boss, that could possibly be a reason for her trip here being over.

"It's just where we keep our… Prototypes." Gohan stated, there wasn't much of a pause in his wording, but unluckily Videl was adept in noticing how people reacted, and Gohan had never paused, he always seemed so confident in the short time she had known him. "Just things that are used for a first design. Rarely do they ever look like the final products."

"Can we take a quick look?" The intrigued girl asked.

"I'd love to, but we really have to get going, the people upstairs can be real short on patience sometimes" Gohan stated swiftly before seeming to stop completely in his tracks as the phone on his work bench started to ring.

"Yes, this is Gohan" The aforementioned boy claimed after picking up the phone.

"Mr Son. We we are ready to proceed with the reveal on level four. If you aren't here soon you might miss the unveiling" came the voice on the other end of the line, it was a deep professional tone of a man who sounded to be in his late forties.

"Yes, yes, we are coming!" Gohan stated frantically before slamming the phone down, ending the call.

Videl had barely enough time to register what was even going on, as in a furious pace Gohan ushered her out of the room and closed the door behind him, walking quickly towards the elevator with his eyes seeming to be glued to his wrist watch.

"Two o'clock they tell me. And what do they do? Tell me they are going to start 20 minutes early without warning" Gohan breathed out before turning his attention to Videl. "It's like I said, short on patience" his head shaking in obvious disapproval.

Videl just stood in silence as she watched Gohan, almost unsure of whether to laugh or feel sympathetic for the boy. She opted for a neutral stance and expression, whatever they were inbound for, it was definitely a big deal.

Once at the designated floor, the elevator doors slowly opened revealing a room filled with Capsule Corp employees from all parts of the company. All were gathered around the centre of the room which was blocked by rope that was connected in a large circle. In the middle of said circle sat a large foreign object about fifteen feet tall and extremely wide as well as long, which was concealed beneath a black piece of fabric.

The anticipation was clearly evident within the room as each scientist, engineer and inventor within the room watched on with a look of excitement on their face as they whispered their thoughts to one another. Amongst the sea of buzzing Capsule Corporation, Videl noticed two distinct blonde teenagers looking well out of place.

Gohan seemed to notice where Videl's attention was directed and leaned down to her ear so she could hear him better. "Why don't you go and stand with those two." The boy suggested to which Videl looked back to him and nodded her head. It was clear that whatever they were doing here it was of great importance to Gohan and he no doubt had other matters to attend to. The boy then made his way through the crowd, pushing past his colleagues as he headed for the centre of the room.

Videl meanwhile had just managed to squeeze her way through the crowd and approached her school peers. "Hey guys" Videl called out.

"Videl!" Erasa exclaimed happily at seeing her best friend. "What's going on here? Mrs. Brief came down and told us to report for a special reveal"

"Honestly I don't know" Videl admitted. "I tried asking Gohan, but that boy prefers more surprises than explanations." A small sigh escaped Videl's lips.

"Speaking of which, how are you two getting acquainted?" Her tone suggesting a bit more than what she meant, her lips breaking in to a devilish grin and her eye brows raised. Videl just ignored what her best friend was implying and answered accordingly.

"Fine." Her one word answer came out quickly and had a real snap to it.

"Oh come on Videl" Erasa pouted. "You've got that cutie as your boss for the whole month, even you can't deny that you lucked out." Videl just groaned at the statement, Erasa never changed.

"Will it ever get through to you that boys are not a priority for me? Why must you insist on playing matchmaker with every boy that breathes who I show even the smallest ounce of tolerance for?"

"I'm just trying to help you meanie. Besides I know who Videl Satan really is, beneath that stern scowl lies a girl who longs for romance." Erasa swooned as her eyes seemed to sparkle at the prospect of Videl finally showing an interest in something other than fighting. Videl mock gagged at the speech and decided the best course of action would be to change the subject.

"How are you coping in the new position?" she asked Sharpener who had remained silent through the initial conversation. "I hear someone decided to introduce their face to a steel wall" Noting the large dent and bruise on the blonde boys forehead made both Erasa and Videl break into a fit of laughter. The boy in question however did not see the funny side of his suffering and growled in response.

"Shut up" He barked. "It's not my fault the hover board was defective." Unfortunately for Sharpener his little tirade did not go unheard by his own mentor Paul Baton. The man, having heard the first part of the conversation couldn't help but add his two cents and further humiliate the boy.

"With all due respect Sharpener, I am fairly certain activating the boosters when explicitly told not to does not classify as defective. Defective in your train of thought? yes, defective product? I think not." His deep booming voice seeming to be full of seriousness, though on the inside the man was howling with laughter as he watched the boy hang his head in shame and his cheeks start to burn up.

"Yes sir… Sorry sir" Sharpener mumbled out as he bowed his head in an apologetic fashion. Paul accepted the boys gesture, even though he felt the boy didn't necessarily have much reason to apologise in the first place. If Paul had learnt anything, it's that boys will always be boys, and Sharpener was most certainly one of those boys.

Before Sharpener could be further humiliated by the howling laughter of his peers the lights in the room dimmed and a bright light was lit solely in the middle of the room where the mysterious object sat and a select few Capsule Corporation executives stood, among them was Gohan smiling happily.

"Attention!" Came loud voice from a man in his fifties, he held a microphone in his hand so those at the back of the room would be capable of hearing him. "Thank you all for coming. We are proud to announce that for the past three years here at Capsule Corporation, we have achieved feats and garnered numbers that the company has never witnessed before. And we have no intention of slowing down any time soon. A large amount of that success, as I'm sure most of you would agree, can be attributed to the tireless efforts and technological brilliance from our very own executive of science and inventing, Son Gohan."

A small round of applause broke out as the announcer paused, allowing for Gohan to smile widely and rub the back of his head.

"Indeed, he has been a fine addition to our team and our family here at Capsule Corporation. Almost three years ago he came here with an idea, an idea that seemed almost preposterous. But that idea turned into what we all know as Capsule: 576, other wise referred to as the Jet-Copter."

Videl watched on in awe, even though he had said it on the first day, it was another thing to hear from someone else that this boy had single-handedly designed such a invention.

"Now though, two years on and we are proud to present the stepping stone for what will eventually be Capsule: 666. I will now hand you over to Mr. Son Gohan himself"

The tall boy then walked to centre and took hold of the microphone, smiling towards the crowd. "My Colleagues. Thanks to the engineering team here at Capsule Corp, we are proud to present to you the first finished design for the new line of Jet-Copters" The black haired teen then nodded to his right, indicating it was time to remove the black fabric from the stage. At the signal the shield from every ones sight was swept away, allowing them to finally gaze upon what was the secret reveal.

"No way" Videl gasped out, her eyes wide and jaw almost hitting the floor at the sight before her. It was, with the best word in the world for her to describe, perfection.

Sat in the middle of the room was a chrome, slick looking Jet-Copter. Though it was clearly an upgrade from what Videl was used to seeing. This one was not quiet as big as the standard Jet-Copter, but what it lacked in size it certainly made up for in appearance. Erasa and Sharpener looked similarly impressed, though not nearly to the extent that their crime fighting friend appeared to be.

A large round of applause then resounded through the large room, with loud murmurs of awe being passed on between workmates. Gohan allowed for this to continue for a few moments, also giving time for everyone to digest the fact that this was the future of Capsule Corporation before continuing.

"What we have here my friends, is the future of high speed transportation. The Jet-Copter Mark II will have all the basic necessitates that the original possessed, but you can expect much more from this one let me assure you. It will have nearly four times as much power as the standard, in a machine that weighs far less. This means it will have enough speed to eclipse the original Jet-Copter nearly three times over. Far more aerodynamic and better manoeuvrability as I'm sure you've noticed by the styling." The boy then paused, looking around the room and taking a quick glance at his student. He almost burst into laughter at the sight, her reaction was priceless and she was no doubt hanging on his every word.

"We expect a finished product to be fully tested and ready for the market by this time next year. We are very excited about this, as most of you will be involved one way or another in the creation of the final product. I thank you all for coming and if there are any questions please ask myself or one of the engineering team members." With that the boy handed the microphone over and the room was fully illuminated by the lights which had been dimmed for the presentation. The act of doing so signalled the end of the reveal and the employees proceeded to slowly leave the flooded room, talking to one another as they did so.

Meanwhile Videl, Sharpener and Erasa all stayed in their place, both out of pure stunned shock and because they were unsure of whether they too should be leaving. Luckily Gohan was on hand to break their silence.

"So what do you guys think?" The demi Saiyan asked with great interest. It was all well and good having his colleagues give him praise for a piece of design, but having a first hand opinion from a neutral party was always more reliable.

"Way cool!" Erasa exclaimed. "I may not have a licence to fly one, but my uncle is a real grease monkey, I'd say he would be super jealous" The blonde girl chirped with her bubbly personality.

"Well I am glad to hear it" Gohan claimed genuinely. "And what about you two?" The boy asked now turning his attention to the other two members of the school program.

Sharpener merely shrugged. "It's pretty cool I guess. Though I don't know much about these things, I'm more of a car and bike man myself, chicks dig motorbikes. And after today I'd prefer to keep my vehicles on the ground if you know what I'm saying." his hand then instinctively rubbed his forehead, the act of doing so made Gohan chuckle.

"I think that's an excellent idea." Came the unmistakeable voice of Paul Baton. "After the hover board I wouldn't trust you with a toy plane let alone one of these things" He stated gesturing to the new product located in the room. "But if you are a keen bike man like you say so, maybe we have something for you instead. You have a motor bike licence correct?"

"Yes sir" Sharpener stated with a cool grin.

"Excellent. We've been meaning to test the next hyper bikes, only thing we are lacking is a capable rider, our test driver is out competing in some competition for the next few weeks. Interested?" Paul wondered. This would hopefully be enough to keep the boy from any further injury.

"You bet!" Sharpener exclaimed unable to keep his cool here, this was something that he had always dreamed of being able to do.

"Good. Then no time like the present. See you later Gohan, I look forward to getting one of these in the test zone" Paul stated as the two left the room together, bound for the test track.

"Thanks Paul!" Gohan called out. "So what do you think Videl?"

Erasa couldn't contain her giggle as Videl tried to come up with comprehensible words to articulate her thoughts. Though this proved to be a challenge as she was incapable of keeping her jaw from hitting the floor.

"I think you've got a happy customer" Erasa laughed loudly. "Videl here is a real Jet-Copter junkie. She's been flying them since they first came out."

"Looks like you're right" Gohan chuckled. It was then that Maria came bustling through the doorway, after having been given instructions by Bulma herself she had come to collect Erasa.

"Sorry Mr. Son, But I'm afraid I'm going to have to steal this one away." The girl happily stated, gesturing towards the blonde haired teenager. "Bulma needs us for a special assignment" the Capsule Corp employee then winked at Erasa.

"Not a problem Maria" Gohan stated. "I look forward to hearing your report on Ms. Rubbers progress. We will meet up with you at the end of the day." Both girls nodded their agreement and headed off, not before Erasa gave her goodbyes to Videl. Gohan watched the two girls leave in silence before turning to Videl once he was certain the room was rid of everyone except for himself and the Satan girl.

"Now, what's say we get a closer look." Gohan suggested raising his eyebrows whilst casually walking towards the Jet-Copter. Videl merely followed the boy around as he ran his hand along the side of the machine. "Now that you have got a better look, what do you think?"

"It's incredible." She stated, her eyes looking over the bodywork and noting how it already looked much faster and more advanced. "Is everything you said about it's speed and power true?" The idea of reaching speeds around triple that of original was simply mind boggling to the girl.

"Hopefully. Early estimations based on the engine we are developing, coupled with the body type and gadgets we are looking to utilise seem to indicate some remarkable results." Gohan answered. "But it's still early days. We are always trying to improve, so this thing may be capable of even more than what we first projected."

The Son boy then without a care in the world opened the door of the Jet and jumped in to to the passenger seat of the craft. He then looked over to Videl in anticipation.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get in." He called from inside. The girl hesitantly opened the door on the opposite side and pulled herself up, settling slowly into the pilots seat, her hands brushing over the controls in front of her. The layout of the controls and buttons were all located in different positions compared to what Videl was used to. Though she then noticed a small screen located in the middle between hers and Gohan's seat.

"Is this the Satellite Navigation?" She questioned.

"Indeed it is." The boy claimed happily.

"It's the same as the original one correct?"

"Well spotted" the tall teen praised with a broad grin, however almost immediately said grin slowly fell from the boys face and look of confusion made its way on to his features, the sight of Videl's furrowed brows was the culprit for Gohan's sudden change in mood. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothings wrong." She said quickly, trying her best to put on a pleased face.

"Considering how your mood went from one hundred to zero at the snap of a finger, I'd say something might be wrong." Gohan said slightly worried that he had done something wrong.

"It's just that… Well you said it's the same type of Navigation System, which is good and all. Except that the old one is…" She trailed off trying to find the right words to express what she needed without coming across as for a lack of a better word a bitch.

"Yes?" The tall boy urged for Videl to continue. The girl in question continued to pause, trying to decide how to proceed with her thoughts, it wasn't long before Gohan finally managed to work out the issue. "If you're afraid I'll take criticism about the old navigation system personally, don't. I trust and respect someone more who is able to point out the occasional fault rather than make out like our products are perfect." Videl noted the clear sincerity in the boys voice and was thankful that he wasn't the stereotypical, egotistical, hotshot inventor, who believes he his Kami gift to creativity. He was clearly willing to take criticism.

With some careful contemplation, Videl nodded her head in understanding before continuing. "It's just that the old system struggles to pinpoint the Jet-Copters location when going at high speeds. As a result I find it easy to overshoot where I am supposed to arrive at, it can be frustrating, especially when I am called in for police work when the window for time is very small." she reasoned.

Gohan thoughtfully rubbed his chin, carefully taking into account all the information Videl had given him. He nodded his head a few times, seemingly to himself before coming to a conclusion.

"I was unaware of that fault, definitely an oversight on my part I must admit." The boy stated, willing to take the brute of the blame for himself. "If that is the case then we may have to rethink the navigation technology we use. We might even have to build an entirely new piece of technology from scratch." The boy then snapped himself from his thoughtful, inventive nature and turned his gaze towards the short girl sitting next to him, he regarded her for a few moments, his mind working as it always did when problem solving. "It would seem we may have found you a part time assignment while you stay here." The boy claimed, his expression showing pure excitement.

"And that would be?…" Videl wondered.

"You not only have great knowledge of out line of Jet-Copters, but you are also a potential customer for this new model." Gohan started, pausing for a quick moment allowing for Videl to keep up. "It's a lot easier having a reliable and neutral party to help make a product better. Take for example the GPS. You were able to identify the little niggle, something that has gone unnoticed by many here at Capsule Corporation. That kind of viewpoint is instrumental in making sure the new Jet-Copter reaches its full potential. So, effective immediately I would like for you to come up with some more ideas to run by me."

"Like what?" Videl questioned, her eyes growing wider at the proposition.

"New gadgets and tools. As you can see, the inside is somewhat bare." both the teenagers glancing around the craft, noting that there was a lack of equipment. "Think of it as your first project. You will still accompany and assist me on my normal duties, but when we have free time I would like to see what you can come up with."

"Are you sure?" Videl asked, she wasn't exactly adept in the ways of creativity. The girl was the first to admit that she may be well versed in many different fields, but creativity wasn't her strong suit. Fortunately though, Videl Satan was as headstrong as they came, no challenge was too great for a Satan.

"Absolutely. Who knows, you may think up an idea that people will come to love." Gohan flashed the girl a toothy smile before exiting the Jet-Copter. Videl in turn followed suit. "But just for future reference. Please refrain from sugar coating things, we encourage our employees to be blunt about their viewpoints. It is far too time consuming and frankly unreliable when we try to be nice and make out like a problem isn't as big as it really is, we prefer to cut the bullshit where we can." The human Saiyan hybrid stated, a small chuckle emanating from his mouth. "And since you are now recognised as one of my colleagues I will treat you in such a manner, and I expect the same in return, sound fair?"

Videl then looked down to see her teachers extended hand being held out in the universal sign of one offering a handshake, to which Videl responded by meeting his large hand with her petite one. "Sounds good." The determination in Videl's voice was dripping with a sense of pride and self belief. The look in her eyes was sharp and strong, a look that Gohan knew all too well, and couldn't help but feel a little bit proud.

"Excellent, I look forward to seeing how you progress here." Gohan claimed, checking his wrist watch whilst speaking. A small grunt resounded from the back of his throat as he carefully examined the time. "Unfortunately you will have to start your assignment in your own time for now. We have a busy schedule, no time for idle chitchat. There's a few inventions I'm working on back in my workspace, willing to give me a bit of assistance?" It was more or less a premeditated question for Gohan, as it wasn't exactly expected for the girl not to be participating in whatever it was he had planned.

"Sure thing." Videl answered, following the boy and his long strides out of the show room and back up the elevator.

The next few hours were relatively uneventful in comparison to what had happened earlier in the day. The two spent the remainder of the day in Gohan's work lab, making repairs to the hover board which Sharpener so graciously managed to crash, as well as continuing work on a new kind of Capsule. All in all, Videl contributed as best she could, mainly by passing Gohan tools when he needed them and offering her opinions when she was asked. Despite her lack of knowledge and experience in this department, she was able to learn a thing or two about the creation and workings of Capsules, thanks to Gohan who offered her this information, hoping it would allow her to have a more hands on approach in the near future.

With that done, the two took a short break, with Gohan taking a file from a drawer and proceeded to fill out a sheet of paperwork. Clicking his pen, the boy sighed as his eyes skimmed over the piece of paper, where he was expected to fill in the blank spaces provided for him. "And this would be the personal low point of my day." The boy stated, as he autonomously and almost mechanically began writing down words and numbers into their appropriate place. It was clear by the way he was barely even looking at the page that the teen had undergone this process on more than a few occasions.

The Satan girl sat silently, allowing the boy to finish his work, all the while taking peeks at the paper, as was her always curious mind. Luckily Gohan, who had noticed the girls line of sight, was willing to do anything to occupy his mind while he did this dull task. "Just a list of materials used, safety protocols, serial numbers, dates, times, you know the boring stuff." Gohan chuckled lightly as he reread the number he had written to ensure it was correct. "But even though it's boring, it doesn't make it any less important. Without these files we would lose a lot of important information."

The black haired boy then slipped the file back into the drawer and took out another, before glancing at his watch once more. ' _4:34?'_ The boy thought to himself, he then glanced over at Videl who was sitting silently, it was then apparent that there wasn't exactly all that much for the girl to do at this point.

"Why don't you pack up for the day, head back to your room?" The boy suggested. Videl perked up at being addressed and looked to the boy with a questioning stare. "I don't finish until 5, but there is no point in having you sit and do nothing for tonight. Maybe in a few days you'll be able to help me with these." He then waved a piece of paper in his hand. "But since this is your first day and all, I think it's only fair that you get some time to adjust." A large toothy grin then crept onto the tall boys facial features, his eyes then met Videl' all the while his hand continued to right down its appropriate markings.

"You sure?" Videl questioned, sure she wanted to leave, but it did feel just a little bit rude to simply up and leave the boy with such a menial task to complete in solitude.

"Yeah, I'm sure." The boy answered. "Your room is on the level 2, use the elevator in the hall to get there. If you get lost, just follow the signs."

"Okay, thanks." Videl slowly pushed back on her chair and stood up, walking over to the doorway before stopping and looking over to Gohan who had his eyes glued to his files. She then paused for a moment before speaking. "I'll see you tomorrow then" she called out.

"You bet. Remember we start at nine in the morning, report to this lab at that time I should be here." Gohan responded happily, waving to the girl as she left. "Oh, and Videl?"

The girl in question appeared on the door frame as she had just rounded the corner into the hall before being called back. "Hmm?"

"You did well today, I'm looking forward to what's in store for this month." It was almost impossible to deny that the boy and his perfect smile were simply charming.

"Thanks Gohan!" the girl called back before exiting the room and heading for her room. The thought of a good meal and a small training session seemed like a good way the end the day, and for Videl to be able to clear her mind.

Upon reaching her destination, the girl took full advantage of the kitchen area located in the guest wing. As one would expect, Capsule Corporation did not spare any expense when it came to catering or their facilities. The girl was able to have a warm, filling home cooked meal, and proceeded to relax in the lounge area, where she met up with Sharpener and Erasa, both who seemed to be out of all energy. The three struck up small talk for a while, but it didn't last long as Sharpener, who was exhausted from his physically draining day, had fallen asleep on the large sofa. Neither girl seem surprised by this, or the fact that the blonde haired boy had begun to snore, with a sound that resembled a pig squealing.

Erasa merely giggled loudly, not at all worried about waking up the sleeping boy. From their experience, it wouldn't at all be a far-fetched idea that the boy could sleep through a car crashing through the wall. Videl just rolled her eyes, her tolerance for people who snored wasn't very high, in fact, her tolerance for people in general wasn't something one would call reasonable.

The two best friends then sat, relaying their days to one another, with Erasa taking up the bulk of the time doing the talking as her bubbly attitude dictated. She spoke about Maria, and how the two of them managed to hit it off, how their interests were nearly identical. And then she went on in great detail about her work with phone calls, front desk work and all the people she had met. Videl listened intently, soaking up all she was being told, Erasa was always the best at giving up information. Over the years, she had been unknowingly promoting Videl's obsession with knowing things with her gossip queen tendencies.

With both girls now caught up with one another's day, Erasa turned the conversation into another direction. "So, Gohan…" The girl trailed off, her eyebrows raised and a sly smile gracing her lips.

"Ugh, Erasa, how many times do I have to say it?" Videl groaned, this was not the time nor place to be pressuring Videl with such trivial and ludicrous ideas.

"I know, I know. I don't like boys, why would I bother? Blah, blah, blah." Erasa waved off her friends comments. "Girl, you have no idea how many women would love to be in your position. You can't deny, the guy is a real cutie, quite hot in fact, and he's super smart."

"We are here to work Erasa, nothing more, nothing less. I'd drop all your fantasies while you're ahead." Videl responded coldly. But she knew Erasa would not take her answer in that manner.

The girl merely pouted as she always did when Videl disagreed with her. "Meanie" she stated whilst poking her tongue out.

"Whatever" Videl responded before standing up and stretching her arms. "I'm going to use the gym, get a little training in before bed."

Erasa nodded at the girls statement. "In that case I'm, going to bed. I suppose this one will remain here." she then poked Sharpener in the chest and laughed.

"Wouldn't be surprised if we find him in the same place in the morning." The raven haired girl stated before walking down the hall towards the gym. "Night Rase, I'll see you in the morning." she called back.

"See you tomorrow V" Erasa responded in turn.

* * *

"Yah!" Videl grunted out, the feeling of her right hand connecting with the large punching bag resounded through the empty and baron gym. She quickly followed up the right hand with a left high kick, loaded with devastating power and precision. The girl then jumped back a few paces, sliding back into her fighting stance, eyeing the bag with her battle glare, as if the bag was an opponent, capable of striking back at any moment.

She stood silent for a few moments, maintaining constant control of her breathing pattern, and keeping her focus locked on her target. The short girl then lunged forward, unleashing a barrage of kicks and punches, all from different angles. Beads of sweat started running down Videls forehead, but she did not relent, she pushed through the pain, throwing each strike with aggression and blunt force. Suddenly her movements became faster as her reserves started to become depleted, the more she grew tired, the faster and harder she fought. It wasn't long though until she became fatigued to the point of exhaustion. The girl then brought her right fist to meet the bag, with all the power she could muster within her tired body. The impact made the inanimate object swing violently, before stopping as her fist had dug its way directly into the centre of the bag.

Videl stood for a moment, head down, breathing at a rapid pace before removing her arm from the bag and slowly walking over to the edge of the gym where she sat against the wall with her water bottle in hand and towel wiping her sweat away.

She carefully surveyed her handiwork, pleased with herself. Her progress over the past few years had been excellent, ever since winning the junior martial arts tournament, the girl had redoubled her training efforts to be able to compete with those in the adult division, her father included. Though she wasn't physically as strong as a majority of her opponents, Videl compensated with blinding speed and timing. She was also an expert at using her opponents moves against them, taking advantage of her keen sense of awareness on the battlefield of tip the odds in her favour.

But whether these techniques were enough to beat her father… Only time would tell. For now, the girl stood back up and continued her workout routine.

* * *

9:21 PM

After her gruelling training regime, Videl decided it would be best for her to turn in for the evening. She needed to conserve some amount of energy in order to deal with whatever task she would be given tomorrow morning.

As the Satan girl walked down the hall towards the guest rooms, she felt a small vibration in the ground, very slight, but still noticeable. She continued walking, this time slower. A few seconds later she felt another tremor, as well as hearing a feint sound, almost like an explosion. The further she walked the closer the sounds and vibrations seemed to be. It wasn't long before the girl was located directly outside a large metal door, one she was quickly able to identify as the Gravity Room she had been shown earlier in the day. She eyed the door, keeping silent, listening for any noise.

Suddenly a large bang came from a very close vicinity, the hall shook lightly, catching the raven haired teen off guard. It was clear at this point, that whatever was causing these disturbances was located directly behind this sealed door.

Had it been any other person, they would have tried to get as far away as possible from such a thing, but Videl was both attracted to danger, and was naturally curious. So the girl pressed her ear up to the door to hopefully make out any noises that could be causing the explosions. What she heard instead was even more surprising, as the explosions stopped and she heard what appeared to be two voices.

* * *

\- 5 minutes earlier. Inside the Gravity Room -

Vegeta quickly rushed in, his right hand drawn back as he flew towards his adversary Gohan located at the centre of the room.

The boy stood firm, his eyes full of laser focus as he waited for the right time to counter, but just as he was about to meet Vegeta, the man phased out, reappearing behind Gohan in order to catch him off guard. Luckily Gohan sensed the minor change in his Ki output and proceeded to act as if he had been outsmarted by Vegeta, luring the man into throwing his next attack from behind.

Vegeta smirked as he expected to feel the back of the demi Saiyans skull break under his force, but he was met with nothing but air, as his fist appeared to simply pass right through Gohan's after image, which had now moved to Vegeta's right side, where he was exposed.

The Saiyan prince braced as he saw Gohan unleash a hard right kick into his rib cage, knocking him back into the wall of the Gravity Room.

The boy waited as he watched Vegeta struggle to his feet before launching forward in a frontal assault. Both threw right hooks which ended up with both their fists colliding with one another, sending a shock wave through the room from their sheer Saiyan power.

Both men eyed each other, smirking cockily, obviously enjoying their battle with one another. They then jumped backwards a few metres and watched one another from opposite ends of the room.

"Your senses have improved it would seem." Vegeta observed as he held his rib which was no doubt broken.

"Piccolo has been helping with that. There is a lot more to sensing Ki than knowing where someone is, or how powerful they are after all. It helps to notice even the most subtle changes in ones techniques or power." Gohan responded.

This had become a regular occurrence for both me since Gohan started working at Capsule Corporation. They held sparring sessions almost every night to test just how far along they had come. Vegeta in particular took this very seriously, and had managed to ascend to and master the form of Super Saiyan 2 within the time after Cells defeat. Gohan meanwhile hadn't trained as diligently as the Saiyan Prince, but had learnt valuable Ki techniques and strategies that helped him cope with the physically stronger Vegeta.

"Figures the Namek would know such a thing." Vegeta growled out. "But mark my words boy, this outcome does not reflect what I am truly capable of. Were it not for the blasted woman, there would be no restraint." Gohan just chuckled in response and have his body a quick one over.

His fighting gi was in tatters and his torso was littered with scars from Ki blasts and heavy blows. But unlike Vegeta he didn't seem to have any broken bones during this bout, something which was hard to accomplish when sparring with Vegeta.

"I'd say we are done for the evening." Gohan stated, to which Vegeta grunted.

"Don't go getting soft on me now brat." his response was cold. "Kakarot had the same soft heart like yourself. And look where that got him." The man then folded his arms, a frown on his face. It was a statement meant to goad the tall teen into another battle. Unfortunately, Gohan did not take the bait.

"True, but look where it got you." Gohan responded with a smirk. "Had he not shown you that mercy, you wouldn't even be standing here."

"Tch, whatever. The idiot made a crucial mistake in letting a Saiyan elite like myself live on. He's just lucky Cell got to him before I did." Vegeta hardened his glare.

"If you say so Vegeta…"

* * *

\- Outside the Gravity Room -

she heard what appeared to be two voices.

"If you say so Vegeta." The voice was identical to her mentors, it had to be Gohan, and he seemed to be addressing that creep Vegeta. What could the two of them be doing in there she wondered.

"But that's not what I am getting at. " Came the unmistakable gruff voice of Vegeta. "Your soft heart limits your potential. An elite doesn't let those faults and limitations stop them."

' _Faults and limitations? Soft heart? What are they talking about?'_ Videl questioned to herself.

"I'm not like you or dad though Vegeta. I don't have the passion to fight like the two of you, I only fight when I have to." Gohan reasoned.

"And it's pitiful. Even from the dead that ignorant fool Kakarot still haunts me. His son, who doesn't put nearly as much effort into becoming stronger as I do still manages to keep up with me, essentially mocking my efforts to become better."

' _Wait, they are talking about fighting? This doesn't make any sense.'_ Videl was now truly intrigued as well as completely confused as to what was being spoken.

"Well it's like you said, I'm a bit of a special case." Gohan stated whilst putting his hand behind his head and chuckling. Vegeta just shook his head in disgust.

"It's a miracle the fool even knew how to reproduce, let alone distinguish the difference between male and female."

"Well from stories I don't think it was as easy to him as it was others." Gohan then laughed a little louder, remembering stories of how both Bulma and Chichi had been 'examined' by Goku to tell if they were girls.

' _Now they are talking about Gohan's father… Was he a fighter as well?'_ Videl wondered. _'That Vegeta guy seems like he could be a high calibre fighter, but what about Gohan?'_

"Idiot." Vegeta mumbled under his breath. "Now if you are finished, I have no desire to humour you and your daddy issues any further. Unless you have decided to stay then leave and allow me to train like a true warrior."

"I think I'll pass on the late night sparring for tonight. Be careful with that rib, wouldn't want any punctured lungs." Gohan smiled whilst delivering his half hearted message of concern.

"It was a lucky hit brat, nothing more, don't get all high and mighty, I am still the prince after all." Vegeta claimed, using his somewhat lack luster title of prince over three half Saiyans as his form of leverage.

Gohan merely shook his head and proceeded to walk towards the doorway. The sound of footsteps made Videl make a quick exit before being seen. She silently ran down the hallway, leaving next to no noise as she bolted to her room.

"Before I forget. Is that apes daughter still as idiotic as daddy?" Vegeta asked mockingly to Gohan who was now positioned in the doorway.

"Actually, there isn't much of a similarity. I guess the apple fell far from the tree." Gohan stated with a shrug. "Though she does seem to be stubborn like him to a degree. She tried to use the G.R today."

"Oh, and I suppose the weakling couldn't handle it." Vegeta howled with laughter at the thought of seeing the great Hercule Satans daughter struggling under the weight.

"She did have difficulties, yes. But she has a lot of determination and power for a human. It's like you said, she has fiery temper, but lacks patience."

"Not like it would do her any good in the first place. Humans will always be weaklings, especially those with that deluded fools blood, you would have better luck teaching a gold fish how to fight rather than that bumbling afro oaf."

"Yes well, I will leave you to your training." Gohan stated, ducking his head as he walked out. "If you need any repairs you know who to call."

"Hmph" Vegeta sounded out with a stiff nod as he watched the boy exit.

Gohan shook his head to himself as he walked out of the Gravity Room and headed for a nearby healing room where he would be able to get a new change of clothes and where they kept a small supply of Senzu Beans. The boy stripped himself of his tattered garments and ate a small piece of Senzu to heal the cuts and bruises around his body, he proceeded to wipe away blood that was running down his forehead and torso before walking out and slipping on his black tank top and grey tracksuit pants.

Usually on sparring nights the boy would take it upon himself to stay at Capsule Corp for the evening, mainly due to the physical exhaustion he would experience which always made the flight home far less than appealing. Luckily his mother, who was proud her son was utilising his incredible intelligence, allowed for him to do this, so long as he came to see them every so often.

He opened the door to his personal guest room where he had a few personal items strewn across the room and flopped onto the bed, sighing to himself. His eyes closed briefly and he lay in deep thought before a feeling brought his eyes open. He then looked towards his door, where he could sense a presence, it was feint, almost like whatever it was did not want to be spotted.

It was a Ki signature, higher than that of the average human, but still difficult to track. It didn't take the boy a while to recognise that it belonged to Videl. Just what was she doing out at this time, surely she would be a little bit tired by now.

The boy then walked over to his door and spotted the girl running from a door in the corner to the guest room area, he raised an eyebrow when he noticed her looking around the room, as if checking for any sign of people. The only thing in the room from her vision was the form of Sharpener who, true to her prediction, had not moved from his place on the couch.

She seemed to be in the clear, every so slowly she walked to her door. But almost froze when a voice behind her spoke.

"Videl?" The curious voice of Gohan said softly.

"Gohan" Videl said, almost jumping out of her skin. Her hand still positioned on the door knob. She couldn't quite make out the boy in the darkness, so she was forced to use his silhouette as a guide for her eyes.

"What are you still doing up?" The boy questioned.

"I just went to the gym." The girl replied, regaining her composure. "I'm use to training every night, kind of hard for me to break that routine." Gohan cracked a half smile and nodded his head, deciding not to question her about the suspicious entrance she had just made. "You're staying here the night?" Videl wondered.

"Yeah, I've just been taking care of some work and other boring tasks. Don't feel like making the trip to the 439 mountain district this late if you know what I mean. Luckily Bulma set up my own room here, so I can come and go as I please." The boy then smiled, though it was lost on Videl who was unable to see. "Anyway, you should get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah sure. I look forward to what you have in store." Videl said happily. Her heart rate slowed as soon as the boy retreated back into her room. She silently cursed herself for having gotten lost on the way back to the guest wing, allowing for Gohan to beat her back and almost bust her. After all, she had been eavesdropping on what was likely a personal conversation.

The girl opted to turn in for the night and think on this whole strange day in more detail tomorrow. But that didn't stop her from thinking to herself as she lay in bed, staring up at the roof, her eyes fixated whilst her mind raced. Multiple questions came to mind. Can Gohan fight? How good are Vegeta and Gohan? What about Gohan's father? And most importantly, who is Son Gohan? What other secrets does she not know about?

She a month to get her answers, and quiet frankly the girl was going to use all the time she had at her disposal to answer those questions.

* * *

 **\- AUS Wild Thing**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Day 2:

The feint sound of the alarm buzzer slowly found its way into the serene dream Videl was fixated with, before completely breaking her focus and pulling her into reality.

Her eyes snapped open as she jolted out of bed, briefly on edge at the unfamiliar room she had awoken too, one that did not resemble her room which was where she expected to wake.

It wasn't until a few seconds however that her mind registered that this was in fact not her room, and that her current location was tied together with the events of what had transpired over the past few days. The raven haired girl let out a sigh of relief as she laid back onto her bed, comforted by the fact that she was safe. Her years helping the police and the stress of the past few days had her on edge.

She looked to her clock _'8:30?'_ The Satan girl said mentally. _'I better get up, I still haven't showered since my training session'_ her sudden remembrance about her lack of personal hygiene was then compounded by the feral smell that made its way to her nostrils. _'Ugh, That's a smell you would expect from Sharpener'_ Videl had to plug her nose at the smell mentally berating herself for turning in for the night without a proper wash. She chalked it up to her fixation with Capsule Corporation and Gohan's secrets, she had spent some time mulling the topics over last night and the idea of a refreshing shower had certainly slipped her mind.

Without missing a beat the girl grabbed appropriate attire for the day, which consisted of a pair of blue jeans, light blue T-shirt and lab coat which was hung neatly in her wardrobe and made haste to the shower.

* * *

Gohan neatly placed his notes and files into a leather binder, nodding in satisfaction making sure he had everything he needed, the tall boy picked up his brief case and headed toward the guest wing to collect his apprentice for what promised to be yet another day of mind developing events.

The boy walked with grace down the halls, memorising what needed to be done today amongst his busy schedule. He was so fixated with his thoughts that he barely noticed Maria and Erasa walking the other way, almost resulting in a collision, luckily the convenient use of KI reading allowed the boy to instinctively avoid the oncoming obstacle.

"Oh, Mr Son!" Maria yelped out of shock.

"Sorry Maria, I didn't meant to startle you" Gohan apologised, bowing his head in forgiveness. Both Maria and Erasa placed a hand of their chest due to their rapid breathing from their little fright.

"It's okay" Maria responded, composing herself. "You gave us a bit of a fright, but that's all. Is everything okay?"

"Just preparing myself for the day. " The Demi Saiyan claimed, his mind still unknowingly processing the information as he delivered his answer.

Maria just waved aside the boys comment. "Don't you worry about that sir, Erasa and I have a fully planned timetable ready for you" The receptionist then produced a sheet of paper, colour and time coded with a brief synopsis in each available time slot, handing it over to her superior for inspection. Gohan's eyes scanned over the paper, raising his eyebrows in surprise, he turned his gaze over to the two short girls standing before him.

"Impressive" The boy summed it up in one word.

Maria just smiled brightly. "While I appreciate the praise Mr Son, the real person you should be directing that too is this little one" The lady stated whilst directing the attention towards her young protege.

After a brief moment of surprise, the tall boy allowed an approving smile to grace his lips. "Well, it seems you are fitting into your new role like a pro. Good job, this will no doubt be a great asset for time management." He waved the paper in his hand in view of Erasa, who was blushing at the high praise. She was used to compliments from boys, but she could not recall a time, if ever, when it was directed towards her work ethic rather than her outside appearance.

"It's not problem at all. Maria told me you guys don't have much structure to keep up, so I thought this could help." She claimed nonchalantly trying to maintain a calm demeanour. Luckily Maria was on hand to prevent her embarrassment from showing.

"Excuse us Mr Son. But Mrs Brief has requested that we deliver these time tables to the remainder of the team leaders." Maria stated whilst gesturing for Erasa to follow as she continued on her original path down the hallway.

Gohan merely bowed his head once again in understanding and turned heel, heading back towards his destination.

Back in the guest wing, Gohan approached the room he knew to be Videls for the month, he proceeded to knock softly on the door, waiting a moment for a response.

"Yes?" came a female voice from the other end.

"It's Gohan, are you okay for me to come in?" the boy asked, remembering his manners and deciding against barging in despite his somewhat stressed mood.

"One second" Videl called out, quickly pulling her shoes on before opening the door revealing a tall figure. Immediately Videl noted the boys new attire, he was not wearing his standard white lab coat, instead this time he wore a dark grey vest, and light grey button up shirt, with his sleeved neatly rolled up to his elbows. This was coupled together well with a slim black tie with white spots, his lower half featured some khaki slacks and shoes. In one hand he had a leather binder tucked underneath his forearm, and the other held onto a very pricey looking leather briefcase.

"Sorry for the rush" Gohan added, nodding curtly at the intrusion. "However, I am here to collect you for our fortnightly meeting" Videl could only raise an eyebrow in response, expecting some more information. "It's nothing special really, just a standard meet up with all the employees. We come together once every other week in the morning to discuss our plans, and sales quotas. Among other aspects that can help us maximise our work rate. It's also a good opportunity to mingle with our other workmates who work in other parts of the company"

Videl nodded her head slowly in understanding. "What's with all the files?"

Her inquisitive nature showing off front and centre.

Gohan looked towards the binder where her attention was focused and just chuckled lightly. "Just some visuals I've prepared for the meeting. You and I will be getting the proceedings under way, it's our job to manage our department and allocate tasks accordingly for our colleagues" The tall boy checked his wrist watch and gestured for Videl to follow him. "Best not keep them waiting. They will have breakfast already prepared in the function room, you can meet up with Sharpener and Erasa there, they will be included in this as well."

The duo began walking down the long, complicated hallways, passing by work stations which were usually bustling with work chatter and business, now however it was a still and silent empty space. "Everyone has gathered in the function room." Gohan explained, noting the raven haired girls gaze as it surveyed the scenes around her.

Eventually the two rounded a corner, the further they walked they more powerful the sound of voices talking became. It was then that they arrived at two large wooden double doors open to reveal a large sized room, multiple round tables set up amongst the sea of people who inhabited it. To the right side of the room there was a very appetizing breakfast buffet where people decked in Capsule Corp attire were happily helping themselves to the mouth watering cuisine.

"Help yourself" Gohan offered whilst handing the girl a plate he had taken off a table on his way in. "We have half an hour to kill before we begin, so get something to eat." Videl graciously took the plate, giving a small "Thanks" in response before waiting her turn in line to pass by the food on display for the taking.

A few minutes went by before Videl had arrived at a table where she was joined by her two classmates, both digging into their early morning feast. "This is _so_ good" Erasa claimed with a mouthful of pancakes, putting heavy emphasis on the work "so".

"Good isn't it?" Gohan said as he made his appearance known, whilst masterfully balancing several plates filled to the brim with food in his hands. All the teens stared wide eyed at the sheer volume of food that was stacked on the boys plate.

"What's with all the food Gohan?" Videl wondered, noting that there did not seem to be anyone else around intending to share this food with the boy. Gohan just gave the girl a confused look.

"Breakfast" he chuckled lightly. "Just a little bit of everything."

"Looks to me like five portions of everything" Sharpener quipped.

Gohan merely shrugged his shoulder, not at all offended by the comment and proceeded to eat his food at a rate that was almost inhuman. Whilst this was indeed a fast pace, it was nothing to what Gohan usually at like. He only showed this restraint to maintain proper table manners in the presence of his work colleagues. But even so, it had the three around him looking on in awe and disgust.

Other members laughed lightly at the reaction of the three teens, they had been exposed to the Son boy long enough to become accustomed to his quirky tendencies, yet none were aware of the actual truth behind the boys immense hunger.

"Ah, that was great" the boy claimed, a wide grin on his face as he leaned back in his chair having inhaled his meal. While in hindsight it wasn't exactly filling for a Saiyan stomach, it did suffice to give him some form of comfort, and the quality of food was near uncontested.

"How did you manage to eat all that?" Videl questioned confused.

"I have a very high metabolism. My body requires a lot more to function" Gohan stated, giving the girl a slight tilt of the head and small grin.

"Yes, but this is another level entirely to anything I have ever seen" the teen girl persisted. She had met people with the same condition, however none had eaten nearly the same amount of food in one sitting. Even if they did, they needed to work regularly to keep their body in shape, and if Gohan ate like this three times a day he needed some serious work rate to keep his body as fit as it appeared to be. The girl thought back to the gravity room and recalled how sturdy his arms seemed to be when she latched on to them as an anchor the other day. If Gohan did indeed have some muscle she needed to understand how he managed it with this diet.

"I suppose being from the mountains where outdoor activities were my only source of entertainment growing up and partaking in martial arts in my free time helps. Aside from that the quality of food I eat isn't poor, I just make sure my diet is balanced despite the quantity" Gohan offered, though it seemed to convince Erasa and Sharpener the answer did not sit well with Videl. She eyed the boy critically in a discreet way as to not attract attention.

' _Healthy food or not, no one could digest that much in a single outing and not have any repercussions with just a simple training session to help'_ The Satan girl added in her head.

Her thoughts were then interrupted by a certain blue haired lady approaching Gohan. "Hey there everyone" Bulma greeted the table before bring her lips closer to her god sons ear. "We've got a code gold in the gravity room" she whispered, making sure to keep her voice low to not arouse any suspicion. Gohan looked to the woman and nodded, he then stood up from his sitting position.

"Excuse me" The tall boy apologized. "I need to go assist Bulma with something. Please continue without me, I should be back in time to start."

Without uttering another word the boy made haste to the exit, Videl carefully watching him as he faded from view and rounded the corner out the door. "Well that was odd" the girl added, looking to her two friends for confirmation that what had transpired was certainly out the ordinary.

"Probably just some science stuff, you know, broken test tube, gas leakage. That kind of thing." Sharpener offered absent mindedly before taking a large spoonful of ice cream and placing it to his mouth. "Besides, if you asked me, people here are too worried about safety"

Videl just shook her head slowly. "Coming from the bone head with a bandaged wrist." the venom was very evident in the girls voice as she took a verbal jab at the boys injury. Sharpener out of reflex then slowly placed his injured wrist under the table, out of view from all wandering eyes, deciding it was now the time to keep his mouth shut he turned his attention back to his frozen desert.

It was then that the girl realised she wasn't going to get anywhere by speculating about the current situation, and she certainly wouldn't get answers by sitting around and conversing with her friends that had just as limited knowledge as herself. She scanned the surrounding area and realised that this was quite possibly a golden opportunity to garner some sort of information. She was surrounding herself with colleagues of her mentor, surely they knew something about him that could add to the puzzle.

The raven haired teen took it upon herself to approach the nearest soul she could strike a conversation with. That person turned out to be a lady, in her early thirties with a red pony tail and freckles. Videl had to admit she gave off an aura of positivity that only Erasa seemed to have.

"Hi there, I'm Videl" the girl introduced, hand out in front of her body offering a handshake in greeting. The lady turned and gave off a warm smile, as if the two were already friends or had been in the past.

"Why hello Videl, the names Olivia. I take it you're one of the newbies from that high school" The lady said happily, to which Videl nodded.

"That's right"

"Well, I gotta say, it's nice to have some fresh faces around here. Not too often we get young kids like you around here, apart from our executive director of course." the lady chuckled lightly at her comment. "How are you finding everything?"

"It's interesting" Videl responded "Definitely a nice change of pace from school."

"That's good to hear" Olivia stated. "I will say though, you've got quite the mentor. That boy is one heck of a prodigy, I don't even know where he gets it. The ideas, the work ethic, I wish I had the opportunity like that when I was your age."

"How long have you worked with Gohan exactly?" Videl questioned, now deciding idle chit chat was done, it was now time to get into the nitty-gritty.

"Ever since he got here, so two years now" Olivia responded.

"You like working with him?"

"That boy is something else. He's an enigma of this whole company, ever since Bulma stepped down as executive director to run Capsule Corp there have been some major changes"

"So Bulma promoted Gohan to his new position because she stepped down?" Videl wondered. She knew Bulma and Gohan were family in some level, but to make that promotion for a family member when there seemed to be many other candidates did seem somewhat hollow.

"Oh no, Gohan won a majority vote for the position." Olivia quickly corrected the girl.

"Vote?" Videl asked.

"After Bulma stepped down she gave us a week to decide on a new director. It was a near unanimous vote from everyone here that Gohan was the best candidate for the position. He's young, talented and is a tremendous leader, based on our recent success under his guidance I'd say we made the right decision."

Videl nodded her head slowly, processing the information. Not only was Gohan well respected by his peers, but they seemed to have total faith in him. That much was evident by the fact that he got where he was thanks to their belief.

"So how well do you know him on a personal level?" The raven haired girl was now even more curious. Olivia weighed the question thoughtfully, not entirely sure how to respond to such a question.

"Not too well to be honest. He prefers to talk about others rather than himself, but that's just because the boy is so modest. I'd say the only things he talks about on a personal level is his mother, brother and his connection with Bulma, the boy is more about business and work rather than conversation most of the time. But there also seems to be a whole gang of friends they share."

"And who are they?" The Satan girl asked, keeping her poker face neutral to make it seem like she wasn't digging too hard for information.

"Family friends or something I believe. They have little catch ups every now and then here at the complex. Though they usually keep to themselves when they do, and it's typically on the weekends when there is no one working here. But from what I've gathered they are quite the group of misfits according to both Mrs Brief and Mr Son"

Videl smiles slightly at the comment, seeming to believe that what Olivia said held some truth based on her first few encounters with the aforementioned people. They were not your average company and having friends of a similar nature only made perfect sense.

"I will tell you something though" Olivia continued, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping before delivering her statement. "I understand your curiosity with the young man." She then compounded the statement with a sly wink. "If I were your age I would feel the same way, he is quite the catch."

Videls face immediately turned to one of defence, she was not expecting in the slightest that the conversation would take this turn or that a workmate of Gohan would imply such a far-fetched idea. "Oh no, it's nothing like that" Videl insisted, taking half a step back. "I just met him, this is work only"

Olivia however wasn't entirely convinced, but respected the young adults personal space. "If you say so" the lady delivered her sentence in a high pitched voice, seeming to imitate a child attempting to gain a rouse out of someone. "It was nice meeting you Videl"

Videl just shook her head, trying to maintain her frustration. This was supposed to have been pure information gathering, it had nothing to do with the drivel of relationship gossip like Erasa always seemed to be obsessed with. Videl Satan did not swoon over boys, she beat the snot out of them for getting too close. Olivia obviously did not know Videl well enough to have any idea what she was talking about.

With the thought settled, Videl escorted herself back to her seat at the table, preferring to converse with her friends as they waited rather than expose herself to any more embarrassment. It was then that the whole complex seemed to rumble, a feeling that resembled greatly what Videl had experienced the night before. While Sharpener and Erasa were on edge after the impact, the rest of the CC employees appeared relatively unfazed by the incident.

* * *

"I thought I told Goten and Trunks not to play another prank on Vegeta again" Bulma exclaimed, holding the bride of her nose within her fingers to relieve some level of stress.

Gohan just chuckled, but understood the caution and repercussions of the young boys actions. "I'd say it's a crisis averted, nothing blew up this time at least, Vegeta is out of commission for the next few hours at least in the healing chamber. Nothing to worry about" the boy reasoned, buttoning his grey vest back into place. "Luckily Trunks and Goten are at with mum at home for the next few days. You have to admit though it was an ingenious plan, Trunks is turning Goten into a little mastermind."

"Of course you would say that" Bulma threatened. "But that doesn't excuse the nerve of that arrogant prince. Thinking he can just throw a tantrum like a toddler when he doesn't get his way."

"A planet busting toddler" Gohan corrected with a knowing smile. "Don't worry about the Gravity Room though. It looks mostly intact, I made sure to keep the fight at the centre of the room to avoid any further damage to the circuitry. Though I will admit it would be nice to have someone else handle these 'code golds' every now and then"

"Of course, just let me call in the back up super Saiyan why don't I?" Bulma then smacked herself on the forehead with an open palm, an action that represented pure sarcasm. "Listen here buster, you promised me that as long as you're here you would keep that narcissistic dick in line. That was the deal" Bulma slowly advanced on Gohan, waving a finger in his face. The tall boy sweat dropped lightly, though he was able to go toe to toe with some of the strongest beings in the universe, the female figures in his life knew how to terrify him.

"Oh I haven't forgotten, It's just that the others are getting suspicious. If I keep leaving like this to handle Vegeta, who knows what will happen. Plus it's not ideal to be fighting an enraged super Saiyan prince on a day to day basis, I'm starting to think Vegeta has some kind of anger problem"

Bulma however waved aside Gohan's concerns, seeming unaffected by the possibility of someone getting tangled in these affairs. "Please Gohan, have some faith. Look at who you are talking to, you think I won't be able to take control of such an eventuality? And anger problem? You don't know the half of it, I would suggest you keep your distance from him today. I don't suppose his royal highness will be all too pleased awaking in a daze, knowing he got his butt kicked by a 'filthy half breed.' Now come on, the others are waiting"

Fifteen minutes went by before Gohan returned once again, Bulma walking slightly behind. Videl eyed the boy critically, wondering just what situation had called for such urgency by two of the most important people in the room. It was then that her eyes noticed something that looked out of the ordinary, it was something that would go unseen to the untrained eye. But Videl was adept at noticing the smallest details. She noted that there was a small cut above the young boys left brow, not too big to draw attention. It was not bleeding, but it looked fresh, she couldn't recall seeing the same scar the night earlier during their brief encounter before bed.

Her analysis was brought to a swift end when the boy made a beeline for Videl and her group, standing before them, the typical Son grin gracing his lips. "Sorry for the wait. Would you three please join me on stage"

Videl nodded her head in understanding, while the two blondes simply followed suite as she continued on Gohans path to the front of the awaiting crowd of his peers. He took to the stage which had been set up prior to their entrance. He then gestured for the three students to take a position beside him.

"Good morning everyone." Gohan announced to everyone stood I the room. "I'm glad to see everyone is in such high spirits. First of all I would like to introduce three of the newest members of our Capsule Corp members for the next month. Allow me to introduce Ms Erasa Rubber, she will be our newest corporate receptionist. She has already devised a new schedule system for multiple divisions of our science department." That garnered a small round of applause from the crowd.

"Mr Sharpener Pencil, the next addition to the quality testing program. We have a lot of new products looking to hit the market in the next few months, so he will no doubt be invaluable to us, along with the rest of their team." Sharpener nodded his head lightly at the high praise.

"And lastly we have Ms Videl Satan. As I am sure most of you are aware, she is a executive director in training. I expect you to treat her with the same respect I demand out of all of you, this is a daunting task and deserves recognition." A few murmurs were being thrown around by the crowd. Some in agreement, others wondering how it came to pass that the daughter of Hercule Satan himself was at Capsule Corporation.

Afterwards, both Erasa and Sharpener were ushered off the stage by Bulma and were taken to find their seats once again, Videl however remained where she was with her mentor. The next few minutes passed with Gohan explaining in detail the expectations of his team and department. News of upcoming events and what they had planned for the coming weeks. The boy then closed off with a big thanks to those who made an appearance. The meeting was then brought to an end and the group of people casually cleared the function room, returning to their normal work routine.

Sharpener and Erasa too were swept away by their superiors, expecting another day in the life of Capsule Corp.

This left Videl and Gohan alone to attend to their own business. The two then slowly wandered out of the room heading back in the direction of Gohan's office.

"So, did you get the chance to talk to any of the others?" The tall boy asked as they rounded the nearest corner. Videl nodded her head in response to the question.

"Yes, I spoke to a lady called Olivia"

"Ah yes. She's actually leading one of the new projects in the science wing. Smart girl, it was her social nature that helped me adjust when I first started here."

"Reminds me of Erasa actually" Videl smiled at the thought. The girl had a knack for unknowingly giving up information just as Erasa did, very perceptive, yet easily persuaded and utterly clueless sometimes.

"I suppose she would." Gohan chuckled. "By the way before I forget, if you have any-" the demi Saiyans sentence was then cut short as he noted a powerful and semi hostile Ki approaching their position, what made it stand out most of all however was that it was all too familiar. Videl watched on confused as the boy stopped in his tracks, eyebrows furrowed, lazer focus directed to the end of the hallway. Before the girl could utter a single word Gohan took long strides forward, placing his palm out behind him suggesting he wanted Videl to remain behind him.

"Well, well, well kakabrat" A low, gruff voice called out. Just then rounding the corner emerged a slightly bruised Vegeta. He had a few small cuts on his forehead and cheek as well as bruising around his right eye. Videl however mainly noted the look of scathing that graced his already unwelcoming face, his gaze focused solely on the boy before him.

"Vegeta" Gohan nodded his head in acknowledgement. Not taking his eye off the man, his Ki sensing ability took note of the man's unstable energy. It was fluctuating wildly, obviously due to the boys presence, combined with recent events which called for the man to harbour resentment. Videl was confused with the tension that was very evident in the room. Something didn't feel right about this Vegeta, their first encounter indicated her hunch was correct. The man had a smug, arrogant demeanour about him, but also a savage personality which seemed to mix with it. She could tell Gohan was being very cautious at this moment, and Videl couldn't blame him, little did she know, this was a stare down transpiring between two intergalactic warriors.

"You think you can duck me all day now?" The prince questioned, taking steps forward. Gohan was careful, normally he would keep his distance, but with Videl now in the midst of this he had to play this carefully. Vegeta, despite being a close ally of the Z fighters, held grudges. And having Gohan beat him into submission earlier in the day didn't help. "Well it doesn't end here. You and I will settle this, one on one, Gravity room." his tone heavily indicated this was not a suggestion.

"Vegeta you need to calm down. You are already busted up as it is, your body needs to heal" Gohan tried to reason, though he knew it was futile by the look Vegeta gave him.

"If you think you can weasel out of this you are mistaken brat. I'm not soft like you, these are nothing" the man stated indicating towards his injuries. "I'm going to break you. The woman won't be there to help you this time. You're spinelessness sickens me"

"Vegeta" Gohan warned, his tone deep and dripping with seriousness. The tone made Videls eyes widen. "Don't do this"

The man however just scoffed. "Trying to threaten me? Pathetic"

"Hey" Came a feminine voice behind the tall frame of Gohan.

' _Shit'_ Gohan exclaimed mentally. He glanced behind him and saw a heavy glare of blue staring straight at Vegeta.

"Who do you think you are?!" the raven haired girl shouted. She then took a step forward, now standing side by side Gohan, eyes bearing in on the man stood before them.

"Oh, so the buffoons daughter remains, deluded and weak" Vegeta retorted, cruel intentions clearly on his mind. "Seems like that joke of a father never taught you to pick your fights"

Videl fumed, he not only insulted her strength, but also her family name. No one disrespected a Satan, and this man had the gall to do so now for the second time. "How dare you. You could never compare to my father. Even I could bring you down."

"Videl stop" Gohan warned, placing an arm in front of Videl who just ignored the boy, ducking out of the way of his extended forearm.

"Seems to me like the only pathetic one here is your arrogant ass. Maybe someone should teach you a lesson"

"And who might that be? You? Why don't you give it a try, I could use the entertainment. Nothing would be better than humiliating that frauds daughter"

"Then bring it" Videl issued her challenge, quickly sliding into a stance, ready to initiate the fight.

Gohan then sensed a savage Ki build up in the man before him. However rather than bring it all out at once, it appeared to be transferred directly into Vegeta's right fist, his eyes widened as he realized the man's intentions.

"Vegeta stop!" Gohan called before appearing in between the two bickering parties, just as Vegeta unleashed a Ki charged Saiyan punch, which was intended to make contact with Videl. However Gohan intercepted the brute force of the blow, using his hand to block the punch which connected with his palm.

The pain was immense, despite throwing these punches in training, Gohan never attempted to block them fully like this when they were thrown with this much force and Ki blended together. Instead he would prefer to dodge or redirect such an attack. However in this situation his options were very limited, had he chose any other way, the teenage girl risked serious injury, or even death had Gohan chose not to act.

The girl in question watched on in disbelief. Not only was she unable to foresee or react to the attack due to its sheer speed. But Gohan, seeming to appear out of nowhere was now stood in front of her, the fist of Vegeta pressed firmly in his right palm. While she may not have seen the blow, she could hear the impact it made, and she could have sworn a large gust of wind followed the movement of the punch.

The pair of black eyes locked together, staring into one another. "That's enough Vegeta. Leave her out of this." Luckily with Gohan's back facing Videl she could not see the boys face, meaning she did not notice the normally black eyes of Gohan shift to a light blue, the first sign of a super Saiyan transformation. Vegeta too glared back at the boy. An intense invisible aura was building between the two. "You don't lay a finger on my apprentice, or anyone under my supervision. It's my job to watch over them, and that's exactly what I will continue to do."

"Very well brat. I believe I have everything I need for now, but this is not over." his eyes then shifted to Videl. "Consider this your last warning. Next time your boyfriend here won't be able to protect you. And that includes the ape you call your father." spat Vegeta, he then turned on his heels, wandering to the nearest exit with the intent of finding a training ground outside far away from the Capsule Corp grounds.

After a few moments of stunned silence, the Satan girl found her wits and formed a coherent sentence. "What's that jerks problem?" She questioned critically, glaring at the man's retreating figure.

"If I figure it out, I'll be sure to let you know" Gohan chuckled, absent mindedly shaking his hand to rid the sharp pain it was exposed to. Videl almost immediately noticed the action, wincing slightly as she saw a beet red circle on the boys palm.

"Does it hurt?" she asked, reaching out and inspecting the hand. She was most intrigued by how their only appeared to be outside damage, yet his muscles and bones, at least from his reaction seemed unaffected.

"Only a little" Gohan responded, lightly tugging his hand out of the girls grasp. "I thought I made the final rule clear. Guess it wasn't enough to deter you."

Videl quickly flashed back to the first day she set foot at the company. She recalled Gohan warning the trio of students not to provoke or engage with Vegeta, though Videl had a hard time listening to that detail as she was worked up from their not so friendly introduction.

"What does Bulma even see in that guy?" The girl asked, following Gohan as the two walked towards the office at the end of the hallway.

"Trust me, there is more to him than meets the eye. He wasn't exactly my favourite person out there when I first met him, in fact I guess you could say I, along with all my friends and family outright despised him, and that includes Bulma." Gohan responded with a shrug.

"Yeah I can understand why" Videl shot back. "So why do you put up with that crap?"

Gohan just smiled, it felt like just yesterday. Vegeta turning from a feared warrior, bent on killing everyone he loved, to a defender of earth and one of the greatest fighters in the universe, married to someone he called family. Gohan quickly glanced at his watch and decided they had time to spare to continue their chat. The duo sat down on the lounge set in the Executive directors office, separated by a coffee table.

"People change. He may still be rough around the edges, but actions speak louder than words sometimes. He has proven to me that anyone can have a change of heart. Not that I am condoning his actions in the least of course, there is still much room for improvement, but it's a start. I'm just glad no one was hurt." Gohan grinned.

"Why did you stop him?" Videl questioned, looking toward his bruised hand, seeming to believe that she was in full control of the situation.

"I'm here to watch over you. You're no good to me injured, besides, Vegeta has a tendency to get intense, he never pulls his punches."

"Did you forget who you're talking too?" Videl wondered. "I'm a Satan, and no one disrespects that name."

Gohan resisted to urge to sigh or shake his head in disappointment. While he respected the young girl for her work ethic, courage and tenacity, he felt she needed to understand that there was a fine line between self confidence and arrogance. Instead of disapproving of the statement, Gohan followed up with a question.

"So who is Videl Satan exactly?" The boy asked with much curiosity.

"What do you mean?" Videl fired back, confused by such a vague question.

"Interpret the question however you like, just try to answer it."

At first Videl pondered whether she should scold the boy for asking a personal question, however she suppressed that idea, deciding it would be best just to play along and see where it leads.

"My father is Hercule Satan, saviour of the world. I was winner of the World Martial Arts Tournament junior division last year. I learnt martial arts at the age of eight, my father trained me at his gym." Videl then paused, trying to see what else she might be able to add. However Gohan, then took this time to speak up. Videl noted how his lips were turned turned upward slightly, almost looking disappointed after she had started to answer the question.

"Interesting. I asked about you, yet the first thing you thought to bring to my attention was who your father was. Why is that?" Gohan asked. He already had some theories for this, yet he wanted to understand the girls reasoning. Videl meanwhile was struggling to explain herself. Why is it that out of pure instinct her father was what she associated herself with?

"Whatever your reasoning, just know this. You are your own person, no matter how people perceive you as a result of someone else, don't let it change your perspective of yourself. It has taken me a lot of understand that. Whether or not this changes anything is up to you, only you can decide that." Gohan finalised. His words holding the wisdom of someone who had experienced self discovery before.

Videl stared at the boy for a short time, how was it that someone like Gohan had managed to work her out so easily. Was she really that absorbed with her public image and status rather than forging her own identity.

"In any case we can't dwell on this for too long, there is still plenty of work to do." Gohan explained, rising from his sitting position and putting an end to this conversation and allowing the raven haired girl to ponder his words later. "Yesterday I showed you what we are working with, today is the day you will begin to learn exactly how these thoughts become a reality." Gohan then took hold of his spotless white lab coat which hung on a coat rack. "First stop is my workstation, we have numerous inventions that require finalizing and you are going to assist me."

The two then proceeded to Gohan's station, gadgets and spare parts were strewn across the various benches he had assembled. He brought the attention of his pupil to a certain desk, located at the centre of the room, on top lay multiple parts used in nearly all Capsule Corp products. They were laid out in an orderly manner earlier in the morning by Gohan.

"Right, so what you see here is Capsule Corporation approved parts. These are the basic building blocks for a standard capsule. Now, the outer shell is comprised of a plastic metal, very durable and resistant to high temperatures and being submerged in water. It is designed to keep its contents well protected. It utilizes an ingenious spring motor, combined with a secret construct of gel and fibre optics which give the capsule its uncanny abilities." Videl listened intently, trying her best to keep up.

"Now, lets start from the beginning, please take the two halves of the outer shell."

* * *

The next hour went by with Gohan explaining the ins and outs of the standard issue capsule. At first Videl struggled to understand specific terminology Gohan used, luckily the boy caught on and chose to bring it down a notch, reminding himself that Videl was in a new world than what she was normally exposed to. The two then took the time to piece together a fully functional capsule from the parts Gohan had set up.

"Very good" Gohan praised. "That is a genuine capsule you have right there."

"What happens now?" Videl asked, inspecting the invention up close.

"Well considering it's made of spares it won't meet market approval. The folks up stairs are rightfully very picky about quality. So it's yours, keep it as a memento"

"Thanks" Videl graciously accepted, pocketing the item.

"So that is the bare bones run down of inventing. How did you find your first lesson?"

"I just can't wrap my head around it" Videl admitted. "And this is only the first few steps."

"Walk before you run" Gohan claimed, smiling an infectious toothy grin. "But I agree, there is a lot to learn, so I think it's time to ditch this wing for a bit. As much as I love my station, the smell of science isn't the most appealing thing in the world, that and I think Vegeta did a real number on my hand. Follow me." Videl merely nodded her head, accepting that being exposed to new material for a while was a refreshing notion.

The duo then walked en route towards what looked to be a large garden under a glass domed roof. There was plenty of flora surrounding the area. Tall trees, thick brushes and colourful abundant flowers graced the garden. There was also a small waterfall which ran down to large body of water where a school of fish swam without a care in the world. It was unlike anything Videl had ever seen.

"I suppose you may be wondering why it is I brought you here of all places" Gohan began. "The reason is because even in an environment such as this we strive to create, to build. Not only is nature the basic foundation for our evolution, but it also gives us remarkable building blocks if you know where to look."

The duo then entered the dense greenery, winding down a scenic pathway which cut through a small forest of bamboo trees. "In very specific places on earth, with very specific conditions lies a place where a rare species of plant is capable of growing. Though not the most extravagant looking species of plant, the benefits it offers put it in a league of its own."

"And why is that?" Videl questioned. Never being much of a green thumb, she couldn't understand how it was someone could be wooed by a plant.

"It is what is known as a Senzu tree. And it sprouts, a bean with medicinal properties, making them capable of healing serious injuries almost instantaneously." The teen girl eyed the boy incredulously, not certain if this was a joke or he was being serious. She was certain if such a thing existed it would have to be public knowledge.

"And how do they do that?" Videl questioned.

"There is only one person who possesses the knowledge of the Senzu bean. And he is the only one capable of farming these beans to their fullest potential. And as far as his understanding of them, it is a secret passed down, and he doesn't wish to share it." Gohan responded. Preferring to keep the details of a talking cat, living in a sky fortress out of the explanation.

"We have tried to replicate as best we can the Senzu bean, with varying degrees of success. In fact we will most likely never get it perfect, our own version provides a slower healing rate and is not as powerful as the original. Like I said, it's all about conditions and we simply cannot manipulate the environment to give us the desired results." Gohan then lead Videl to a clearing in the forest, where there sat in the soil several small plants, sprouting small lime beans. "And this is the product of our labour. Not perfect but it does the trick."

"Why is it different from the original" Videl wondered, inspecting the unimpressive looking plants, expecting more flare from a magical healing bean plant.

"Well it's like I said, we don't know how to maintain them properly. And the original bean can heal serious wounds in a matter of moments, almost instantly. However the ones you see here can only heal less serious wounds such as strained muscles or open wounds, not broken bones. And while the true bean can replenish a person's lost energy, ours can only do so on a smaller scale."

"Replenish energy?" Videl repeated in a tone that suggested a question.

Gohan instantly noted that he had slightly miss stepped his wording, using terminology that only a select few on earth understood.

"Yeah, the effects of fatigue are almost unnoticeable if you ingest a Senzu bean." Gohan covered up, not wishing to expose the secrets of Ki. Videl seemed to take the bait, nodding her head in understanding.

"So you've eaten one before?" She questioned looking directly at the boys eyes, wanting to gauge whether what he was feeding her was a heap of BS or held truth to it.

"I've had a few" Gohan responded, flashing back to all the times his life was on the line and a Senzu provided him with a second chance. "I've also tried our own attempt. It does not compare when you understand the full strength of the real thing let me tell you."

Gohan watched the girl as she looked away, eyeing the plant. "I can tell you don't believe it" Gohan chuckled, Videl instantly turned to assure the boy she did, but Gohan cut her off. "It's fine. I mean it sounds like something out of a fairy tale. However I didn't just bring you here to show you the bean." The boy then gestured to his right palm where significant bruising was enveloping the flesh. Normally Gohan would not resort to a Senzu for such a minor injury, thanks to his Saiyan biology it would only take a good night's rest for the wound to heal properly, but he figured the girl might be suspicious if he had somehow recovered immediately from Vegeta's punch.

"Just watch" Gohan suggested. Holding his right palm out, he then placed the bean into this mouth using his free hand and swallowed it. A few seconds went by with Videl waiting for something to happen. She was then surprised to not that the purple area on the boys palm was gradually shrinking, turning back to the pale white that matched Gohan's skin tone. She struggled to contain a small gasp as she noted now that their appeared to be no evidence of injury. Her line of sight then turned to the tall boys face, realizing that the suspicious small cut about his eye which she took notice of earlier was too gone, indicating that her hunch was correct in noticing it was indeed an injury of sorts.

"Wow, that's amazing" Videl stated after witnessing the healing properties the bean possessed. "How exactly did you find out these beans even existed?"

"Well like I said, only one person has the proper know how to grow them. My father met him when he was just a kid. Difficult to find, he likes his privacy, but that didn't stop my dad from seeking him out." The boy laughed, remembering stories about a young Goku scaling Korin's tower. "I have only met him a handful of times, however Bulma keeps in contact with him from time to time."

Videl then took the time to process the information. It was clear that this mysterious figure Gohan spoke of was a mutual friend of both Bulma and Gohan's father. So it was safe to assume that this unnamed person was perhaps included in the small group of friends Olivia spoke of. The question was how exactly Gohan was made to be the God son of the most influential woman on the planet. Evidently she was on good terms with Gohan and his family, but how did that relationship come into being? More pieces to the puzzle.

"Your dad sounds like quite the adventurous spirit" Videl commented with a smile. Gohan too replied with a kind grin of his own.

"He was." The boy's eyes then briefly seemed to stare blankly as he recalled past memories of his father, ones that made him both miss and cherish the time they spent together.

The two word response made Videl berate herself for being so selfish and wanting information rather than take into account just what painful memories she must have been bringing up. _'His father is dead, and I just have to go ahead and remind him of that fact'_

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up." Videl sincerely apologized to which Gohan shook his head, disregarding the need for an apology.

"Don't worry about that. It's been a long time since he passed away" The boy responded putting on his typical goofy Son grin. Videl just watched the boy, smiling about how it was he was so positive despite her prying. If the roles had been reversed she felt like she would have floored the boy for invading on her personal life and talking about matters he didn't understand.

"Well I hope this little botany lesson has been educational" Gohan stated, jokingly. "However I'm afraid it's back to my office for the remainder of the day. We've got some more inventions to start on and then some paperwork." Videl's face scrunched at the thought of sitting behind a desk reading over reports. The reaction made Gohan chuckle.

"I'll be honest, it's not my favourite thing in the world either, but these are the things that make the world go round unfortunately. Spending six hours going over reports makes me understand why Bulma decided to step down."

"That and the girl needed to take hold of the reigns from this old coot." Came a raspy voice from behind the two. Stepping out, Gohan instantly gave the figure a respectful nod in greeting.

"Afternoon Doctor Brief" Gohan greeted. "I figured you would be skulking around here." In actuality Gohan had sensed the elderly man's Ki before wandering into the nature strip, however he decided against disturbing the peace the old man must have been enjoying.

"You know me too well Gohan my boy. Can't keep anything from you." The man chuckled, his thick moustache vibrating at the deep sound resonating from his throat. "And this must be your new apprentice" Doctor Brief deduced, his attention focused on Videl.

"Yes you are correct. This is Videl Satan. Videl this is Doctor Brief, founder of Capsule Corporation and inventor of the very first Capsule." Gohan introduced, remembering to include the achievements this man had accomplished in his life.

"It's great to meet you." Videl stated, stepping forward to shake the man's hand. She was sure their would be some members of her class who would be jealous of her position right now.

"The pleasure is mine" Doctor Brief responded happily. "It's good to see that some youngsters are still taking an interest in science." Videl considered correcting the man and explaining that this was merely a non negotiable situation she was in, but decided against it, noting his sincere tone.

The old man then took a cigarette from his lab coat pocket, bring it to his mouth and lighting it with a lighter located in his other hand.

"I thought you quit" Gohan claimed, recalling a time where his was pressured by his wife to stop smoking as to increase the longevity of his health and life.

"Cut down, not quit" The man corrected with a hearty laugh. "Besides, with Bulma set to take over the company I think I deserve to enjoy the finer thinks in life during my retirement."

Gohan merely laughed at the comment and shook his head. Though he did not approve of both Dr Brief and Bulma's smoking habits, he did not feel the need to tell grown adults how to live their life.

"And between you and me" Dr Brief added as an after thought, leaning in to ear shot of both Gohan and Videl. "It helps me cope with stress. And with my daughter set to take over my life's work, I need all the stress relief I can get."

"There's no disputing that." Gohan retorted. Still amazed how it was someone such ad Dr Brief, with no knowledge or understanding of Ki, or fighting could remain so calm in all the threats to earth, yet struggled with the idea of handing over his company.

"So what brings you two down this way?" The man asked, looking around the greenery, nodding in approval absent mindedly.

"I was just demonstrating the effects of the Senzu Bean" The tall teen responded.

"Ah yes, Bulma's little side project. Too bad she hasn't been able to get any more information out of Korin." Doctor Brief explained carelessly. Videl meanwhile noted to unfamiliar name and took the name down mentally to remember it.

"Who's Korin?" She asked the two.

"Oh he's the one who grew the original Senzu Bean" The man explained happily. Gohan however shot the man a disapproving look. He then notice Videl was eyeing him expectantly, no doubt desiring more information. The boy just sighed lightly.

"He's the one who I told you about. It would seem some people have forgotten he doesn't like his name being brought up in conversation." His eyes then shot to Doctor Brief who rubbed the back of his head, laughing at his little slip up.

"Yes well I best be off. More repairs to make unfortunately. I'm also looking into increasing the output of that Gravity Room Vegeta loves so much. I'll see you two later." Doctor Brief said, he then turned tail and wandered off, heading to another area of the Capsule Corp grounds.

"He may not look like it." Gohan began, as the two witnessed Doctor Brief light another cigarette but only succeed in burning his thumb instead, letting out a yelp in pain. "But that is quite possibly the greatest intellectual mind of the modern era"

Videl meanwhile sweat dropped at the comment, watching on as the older man dropped his light into the pond next to him and nearly tumbling straight in trying to retrieve it. "Book smarts, but not street smarts." Videl shot back, her voice a monotone, continuing to watch the man tip head first into the shallow pool of water. "I don't think I would have picked it if you hadn't told me."

Gohan meanwhile laughed at the comment, not at all surprised that Doctor Brief once again was capable to making himself look like a joke in the eyes of spectators. "I never said he was all there in the head. But in any case we need to head back now."

The two then found their way back to Gohan's office, where a large stack of files and papers sat on his desk, awaiting review. He however waved off he thought of doing it at this moment and decided to take care of it after all matter of business was complete for the day at hand.

"Right, so now on to the brainstorming" He explained, taking a seat on his sofa, gesturing for Videl to follow his actions. "Bulma has recently asked us to push our newest lines of capsules to appeal to the publics everyday needs. You probably already noticed some of these from what I have shown you these past few days. However this is about understanding what it is that people can utilize on a day to day basis. We need to get in the heads of our buyers."

Videl nodded her head, this seemed to be a fair way of getting work done and maintaining high sales on the market.

"We have already tossed around the idea of a money capsule. One with a locking mechanism that safely protects your cash or any valuables you might have. However with such a small device it is easy to misplace, so we are trying to work around that."

Gohan then took a pen and clipboard from the bench next to him and lightly tapped the pen to his forehead, as if it would help him process information quicker. "This is what I do nearly every day. I start with a broad idea and try to narrow it down, until eventually you have a first draft you can work off. Since you are included in this, I want to hear what ideas you have, if you have any thoughts about the money capsule just speak up. Remember, there are no dumb ideas, it's just about getting pen to paper at this point." The boy informed her.

"What about some sort of tracking device? One that attaches to the capsule itself so you can't lose it?" The raven haired girl suggested. Gohan pondered the thought for a moment before smiling widely.

"That's not a bad idea. We have devices that can pinpoint a tracking chip from several hundred meters away, if we could scale it down to capsule size, we might be able to apply it to all ranges of capsules." The boy nodded his head, lost in thought about how this could benefit their inventions. "Impressive, what other ideas do you have?" He asked, scribbling down notes onto this clipboard.

Videl shrugged her shoulders, failing to contain a confident smirk at her proposed idea. "We could go for a fingerprint recognition system on the capsule trigger along with a coded system, that way it is only accessible to a single person if they use their prints, or use the code if they need." Gohan suggested before noting the idea down.

* * *

The following hour and a half went by with Gohan and Videl bouncing ideas off one another, seeming to have three pages worth of ideas by the time they were finished. Gohan to say the least was impressed with his comrade, glad to see she was now getting amongst the world he was enveloped in. "Well, I'd say that's enough for now. We certainly have more than enough to go off of, not we just have to condense it all to the essential add ons and start on a first design." The boy checked his watch, realizing that he had given himself little time to complete his paperwork. "We will have to pick this up tomorrow morning however. No more putting off the boring stuff." He then groaned, noting that he had over two hundred unread emails after arriving at his desktop computer.

Videl could hardly contain her gasp at the sight. The paperwork, the computer screen, she could hardly fathom how someone would be capable of staying on top of such chaos. "What is all this?" She wondered, flicking through a file located on the desk.

"These are lab reports. Usually findings from recent testing results, new inventions and sometimes ideas from the people downstairs looking to launch a new product. Everything here has to meet my approval, if it doesn't, then you and I are going to have to beat someone over the head in the morning for wasting valuable Capsule Corporation resources." Videl raised an eye brow at the comment, not sure if he was using a figure of speech or being serious. Gohan took note of her reaction and explained. "Bulma has encouraged me to be very strict. I told you yesterday we do not tolerate any bullshit around here. At the end of the day we need to commit to high quality work, and no one gets a free pass."

Videl seemed to like that mentality. Enjoying the idea of being involved in a higher power position where she could assert dominance. She could definitely get used to that idea.

Gohan then began sorting through the stack of papers on his desk, setting them up in an orderly matter that allowed him to read through them in the most efficient way possible. Another hour went by with Gohan going over lab reports for new designs. It was almost all gibberish to Videl, as she tried to understand Gohan who made an attempt to explain what he was reading to her in the least technical way possible.

As The eighteen year old prodigy opened up the next file, which was a report on the latest boxing machine, he noticed that there was a note asking for him to see an email sent out containing a video clip of the test. He then went to his computer, scanning over the subject headings to find the one he needed.

He opened the file to witness and chuckled at its contents, before turning the monitor so it was in view of Videl. "Looks like Sharpener is having some fun."

The two watched the clip of the big blonde boy, decked out in boxing head gear and gloves, mixing up his power punches with the padded machine. It began swinging faster, with the boy ducking and weaving trying to evade all the strikes. He continued to land solid blows on the machine before he sound of Paul Baton's bellowing voice from behind the camera spoke up. "We are going to level five Sharpener, three, two, one." It was then that the machine started throwing faster and more precise punches, Sharpener tried his best to dodge before being clipped on the head, he brought his hands up to defend himself from the onslaught until the machine was stopped. The clip ended with Sharpener placing his hands over his head in fatigue.

"Typical" Videl dead panned. "He always uses his head in the literal way, never thinking to use his brain. It's a wonder he's actually managing to pass any classes."

Gohan then blinked a few times. "What is high school like?" he asked, curious.

The girl looked on in confusion at the question. "What?"

"I've never been to an actual school in my life. I was home schooled all my life, so I never got to attend a real school with other kids. I have always wondered what it was like." Gohan explained.

"Did you ask any of your other friends?" She asked, wondering why he was asking for her opinion on the subject. Gohan however just made a face of embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head.

"Growing up in the mountains doesn't expose you to many other people. Let alone kids my own age. The only friends I have ever had are people who were already friends with my parents, and they are all old enough to be my parents themselves. Also, I don't think the education system was quite the same then as it was now if you catch my meaning."

Videl watched the boy indigenously, utterly bewildered that this boy had never been close with anyone of his age. She couldn't fathom the idea of being so isolated from everything and not being able to have a friend to deal with it. Almost immediately the girl felt pity for the boy, not because he was upset about it, in fact he seemed fine with it, but because he had grown up not knowing any better. Sure he was smart and well developed, but there were some things books could not teach.

"School is" Videl trailed off, trying to think of the best way to describe it. "In some ways stressful, there are so many social aspects of it that would make your head spin. Who's dating who, the popular groups and social outcasts, the teachers. It's really the only place you get to experience what is out there in the world and friendship as a kid. I mean, I met Erasa when we were only seven years old, and after all that time I know her better than anyone."

Gohan took a moment to process the information. Not sure why it was important for students to discriminate their peers based on social standings, thought he assumed it was something he would never understand, thanks to his current situation. "I do wish I could have experienced it at some point. Working here is great and all, but I feel like I missed out on a lot as a kid." He then remembered all the times he was to busy fighting for the sake of the planet rather than being able to just be a kid.

The raven haired girl watched on, unsure of how to approach the situation. _'What and I supposed to say to that?'_ she asked herself. ' _He's lived his whole life wondering what our lives are like, and here we are in awe about everything he has accomplished.'_

"Trust me. School isn't all that glamorous. Besides a country boy like you would be eaten alive by" Videl responded, giving the boy a light punch on the arm. She was surprised by how, despite putting little effort to the punch, her fist still hurt slightly.

Gohan nodded his head and chuckled. "I'll take your word for it. Growing up in the forest probably would land me in that 'Social Outcast' category no doubt."

* * *

The two dropped the conversation for the meantime and turned their attention back to the job at hand. Two more hours went by and they had managed to dwindle the pile of papers down to a small stack. Gohan had already made a note of visiting a member of the engineering wing at some point during the week to chat with the lead of operations about a serious violation of Capsule Corporation code of conduct. Based on a report from one of the team, he had been using resources for his own project which had not been approved by Gohan.

The boy checked the clock on the wall and turned to his apprentice.

"It's already seven o'clock" Gohan informed. "I'm honestly not pumped about another late night at the office. I think we should call it for the day."

Videl just stretched her arms out, grunting as her joints cracked. "Sounds like a plan to me." She agreed. The two then left from their sitting position and headed for the exit. "What about the rest of the paperwork?" She asked on the way.

"I think I'm entitled to at least one decent nights sleep. I'm still trying to wrap my head around some parts of my role." Gohan admitted.

The pair shortly ended up in the guest wing of the complex. He stretched out his arms as the two neared the kitchen. Where Gohan heated up food he had in his fridge.

"This is delicious" Videl commented, taking a bit of a rice ball on the side of her plate.

Gohan just smiled and nodded his head in agreement. He at least had the decency to swallow the mouthful of food before talking. Videl had to admit, she wasn't sure she could get used to these kind of eating habits or terrible table manners.

"It's actually something my mum cooked up the other day. She always swings by and leaves food for me. I have been spending more time here then at home recently." He added.

"Well tell her that she is an amazing cook next time you see her." Videl praised. Taking a bit of some Beef Yakuniku.

"You'll be able to tell her yourself. She will be coming over tomorrow night to visit, my brother will be coming too. Bulma has also requested I take a day off work tomorrow. You, Sharpener and Erasa are also exempt from working as well. Bulma feels like I'm working myself too hard, I need the time off. Plus I'll be able to show you guys a bit more of the recreational side of the complex, we can't expect you to being working the full month now can we." Videl released a sigh of relief, knowing that tomorrow she wouldn't have to stress about work or the responsibility it held.

"That sounds good. I'm sure the others will be thankful as well."

"Yes, well I am certainly thankful. I haven't had time to myself at all this past month. So a good nights rest sounds like the first step to achieving that." Gohan claimed, standing from his spot at the table and heading to his personal room. "Thanks for your help today Videl. I'm glad to see you are settling in." His tone was sincere, and judging from what she already knew about the boy, Videl could tell he meant what he said, he never spoke without confidence.

"Thank you, I had a good mentor for that." She nodded with a smile, making Gohan allow a comforting smile to grace his lips.

"He sounds like a great guy" The boy said, sticking out his tongue in an immature way, though to Videl, it seemed to suit him. Seeing Gohan act a bit more silly and out of character made him seem more comfortable. "Anyway, I am going to turn in for the night. Rest up well, good night."

"Night Gohan" Videl responded softly as the boy entered his room, closing the door behind him.

Videl stood by her door for a moment, staring blankly before turning back to her door. Before she could unlock it however, the door beside hers swung open, her blonde friend Erasa stepping out, clad in her pyjamas which consisted of a pair of blue shorts and green long sleeve. Her eyes inspected Videl with a broad knowing smile on her face.

"Now, now, what have we here?" The girl questioned. Hands on hips and eyebrows raised.

"What is it now?" Videl asked, her breath coming out as if she already knew what was on her friends mind.

"I had a good mentor" Erasa mimicked her friend as best she could. "Night Gohan" this time she went over the top, her eyes fluttering and tone high, nothing like Videls.

"Yeah so what?" Videl asked, her cheeks a light shade of red.

"Come on V. I've never heard you talk to a boy like that before. Why can't you just admit you are totally crushing on the cutie." Erasa complained, trying to so desperately to hear the words she had been waiting for years to come out of her best friends mouth.

"For the last time Erasa, I'm not interested." Videl shot back, her tone rising with each word. "Look, Gohan isn't like the boys at school, he's not obsessed with me because of who my dad is. Just because I am able to hold down a conversation with another boy because he doesn't have a 'Hercule Obsession' doesn't mean I am throwing myself all over him."

Erasa meanwhile pouted. She knew she couldn't push Videl any further, lest she explode and avoid the topic for the entire month. "Fine" Erasa surrendered. "Forget it. Night V" The girl then wandered back to her room for a good nights rest.

Videl shook her head furiously, trudging back to her room, she groaned into her pillow after falling face first on her bed. Erasa just needed to mind her own business sometimes and stop meddling in affairs that weren't hers.

The girl refused to dwell on the subject any further. Thanks to her now fractious mood, her attention turned to a way to get her mind off everything. She began piecing together all the information she had managed to obtain through out the day. Though it admittedly wasn't much, there were small details that could be useful. She recapped her conversation with Olivia about Son Gohan.

' _He was appointed leader by his colleagues. He shares the same group of friends with Bulma. No idea who they are though, but from the sounds of it, they both seem to know this person known as Korin, whoever he is'_

Videl tried to recall every hearing the obscure name before. It sounded familiar, yet she didn't remember meeting anyone of that name. He thoughts continued for a moment before she realized where the name of origin came from. She recalled a book she had read about martial arts when she was interested in the history of it some years back. The book explained in detail a deity by the name of Korin, who was hailed as the "God Of Martial Arts". If she remembered correctly, he was often depicted as a small white cat, supposedly over eight hundred years old.

' _Typical, turning gods into animals, real original.'_ Videl noted sourly. She remembered tales of the deity supposedly training those who were able to seek him out, granting them great power, however Videl was not a religious person and did not hold belief in spirits or ancient deities. So as far as she was concerned, this was nothing but mumbo jumbo, another dead end. However, using speculation, she decided that the name held some significance.

' _Gohan did say that the Senzu Bean was grown using ancient traditions. So it would make sense that the lineage of the people who grow it span back a long way. As far as the name Korin originated'_ She theorized. She was glad to make some sort of connection, even if it was a loose judgement.

Her thoughts then turned back to Gohan, she was glad he was able to open up to her know. He was a very sincere boy, honest and he didn't care about Hercule being her father. That much was clear by their conversation about her identity prior in the day. She recalled how he seemed somewhat disappointed by her instinctive reply to the question he gave. She couldn't understand how he had read her so easily, and gave her advice on it.

Her hand then slid into her lab coat pocket, before pulling out a small capsule, the same one they had pieced together earlier. She inspected it closely and cracked a smile at the memory and gesture. She looked forward to tomorrow.

* * *

 **\- AUS WILD THING**


End file.
